Taal Lake (, ), formerly known as Bombón Lake, is a freshwater caldera lake in the province of Batangas, on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The lake fills Taal Volcano, a large volcanic caldera formed by very large eruptions between 500,000 and 100,000 years ago. It is the country's third-largest lake, after Laguna de Bay and Lake Lanao. Volcano Island, the location of Taal Volcano's historical eruptions and responsible for the lake's sulfuric content, lies near the center of the lake. Up until the 2020 eruption of Taal Volcano there was a crater lake on Volcano Island. It was known as Yellow Lake and Main Crater Lake and contained its own small island, Vulcan Point. Vulcan Point was thought to be one of few third-order islands in the world. Protected area and management The Taal Lake basin was first declared as a national park, known as the Taal Volcano National Park, by Proclamation No. 235 on July 22, 1967, covering . Under Republic Act No. 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992, the area was reestablished as the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape by Proclamation No. 906 on October 16, 1996. The protected area is managed by a Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and has a Chief Operating Officer called a Protected Area Superintendent. A Management Plan was crafted and approved by the PAMB in 2009 and now serves as the blueprint for lake conservation. History Taal Lake was once an inlet of nearby Balayan Bay, and was easily navigable from it. A series of major eruptions in the early 18th century battered the lakeside towns with earthquakes and volcanic debris. The activity culminated in 1754 with Taal Volcano's largest eruption that blocked Pansipit River with tephra, blocking the lake's sole outlet to the sea. This caused the waters to rise, eventually submerging several lakeside towns – the remnants of which are reportedly visible underwater to this day. Since the 1754 eruption, the surface elevation had risen from sea level to above sea level, with the lake's once saline waters becoming freshwater after centuries of precipitation. The poblaciones (town centres) of Lipa, Taal, Sala, Bauan, and Tanauan were abandoned and reestablished several kilometers away from the lakeshore after volcanic activity had subsided. Over a century hence, newer settlements along the lakeshore were carved from the larger towns: Talisay (established 1869, from Taal), Cuenca (1877,