Laguna De Bay: 2013 Ecosystem Health Report Card

Abstract

The development of the first Ecosystem Health Report Card for Laguna de Bay, the largest in-land body of water in the Philippines, was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and jointly implemented by the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia Resource Facility (PRF) and the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA). Key partners included the LLDA Technical Working Group, experts from the University of the Philippines- Marine Science Institute (UPMSI), University of the Philippines- Los Ba&ntilde;os (UPLB), University of Santo Tomas (UST) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the science communication team from the Integration and Application Network, University of Maryland Centre for Environmental Sciences (IAN-UMCES). <br />The Lake features three distinct bays: the West Bay, Central Bay, and East Bay that converge at the South Bay. Scores for water quality and fisheries for the whole Lake and for each of the sub-bays were calculated. Over-all, Laguna de Bay scored a low passing mark, a C-, in water quality and a failing mark, an F, in Fisheries.