In 2008, Larry Hugo was stunned when he foremost ventured into the azure seas around Pag-asa Island – 932 kilometers southwest of the Philippine capital of Manila and known internationally as Thitu. alone a few hundred meters away from the shore, he found his outrigger boat already brimming with a wide array of fish. It was a haul enough to feed his little island community for a day. He sold it for P80 ( $ 1.60 ) per kilogram, chiefly to military personnel stationed on the island.
After a class as a structure worker ( and while fishing on the side ), Hugo quit to become a full-time fisherman. Back then, the pristine seas gave him a casual income of P500 to P1,000 ( $ 10 to $ 21 ), three to four times higher than his wage from structure work .
The abundant harvest continued in the watch years. During the fishing season that ran from March to May, whenever he and his 45 or so companion fishermen returned home, they would unload basins filled with tanigue ( mackerel ), talakitok ( trevally ), maya-maya ( snapper ), lapu-lapu ( grouper ), molmol ( parrot fish ), danggit ( rabbitfish ), and labahita ( surgeonfish ) .
Life was easier back then for Hugo and the closely 200 other settlers from across mainland Palawan. Food wasn ’ t a problem, and government provided about all of the island ’ sulfur basic needs, like beverage water, ability, housing and monthly rice supply .
Why do the residents of Pag-asa receive such incentives ? These inhabitants play a vital function in supporting the Philippines ’ assertion of sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea ( WPS ). It ’ s a region that China has been claiming as part of its nine-dash wrinkle, which encompasses much of the South China Sea and encroaches into the single economic zones ( EEZ ) of not only the Philippines, but besides Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and even faraway Indonesia .
Signs of destruction
originally from Roxas in the mainland of Palawan, Hugo was 29 when he moved to the island of Pag-asa. Packing only a few clothes and some fishing gear, he went aboard a charter ferry that took two days to reach the distant island in the WPS. That was 13 years ago .
What pushed him to leave his erstwhile home ? “ I don ’ t think there ’ s a bright future there for artisanal fisherfolk like me, ” Hugo told a Rappler diarist working with the Environmental Reporting Collective. fish stocks were declining on the mainland as more and more fishing players started operating in the coastal waters to feed the state ’ second booming population .
After his move, the ocean surrounding Pag-asa became his fish haven. The West Philippine Sea itself was prized not alone for its huge fisheries, but besides for its fossil fuel reserves. But everything started to change in 2014, when China began constructing military facilities on an artificial island on Subi Reef. Hugo was among the first fisherfolk to spot and report the construction to the philippine military stationed on Pag-asa .
“ Barges carrying aggregates and other construction materials arrived one by one. When they last swarmed the area, we were no longer able to go there, ” recalled Hugo. The occupied reef sits 26 kilometer southwest of Pag-asa and was once a rich fishing ground frequented by him and other fisherfolk .
Experts have long cautioned about the potential collapse of WPS ’ s marine ecosystems due to China ’ south illegal reclamation and fish – environmentally destructive activities that President Rodrigo Duterte ’ sulfur government did little to deter for several years. In 2019, the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute estimated that the country is losing at least P33.1 billion ( $ 681.4 million ) annually due to reef ecosystem damage in the WPS .
With an annual fish yield of 300,000 measured tons – which represents 7 % of the nation ’ second sum fish production – the filipino fisheries agency said the sea needs farthermost protection as it is crucial for the state ’ s food security. Studies show its coral reefs are vital for the long-run sustainability of the Philippines ’ marine resources as it replenishes the coastal fish stocks in the major fishing grounds of Palawan, northwest Luzon, and Sulu and Celebes Seas .
WORK. Two fishermen set out during early sunset on a small and modest outrigger boat or ‘bangka’ around El Nido, Palawan in the Philippines. Shutterstock
In March 2021, tensions flared in the sphere again after hundreds of chinese militia-like fish vessels entered the seascape. Experts called it an aggressive assertion of control condition over the geopolitical hot spot, and that the vessels, which were anchored there for weeks, were a tactic to push out boats from other claimant countries like the Philippines .
On the heels of these hostile incursions, Filipino marine scientists renewed the warn that the impact of China ’ s activities could deal a hard gust to 1.8 million people, largely from the minor fish sector that depends on WPS marine fisheries to survive. These residents belong to one of the nation ’ s top three poorest sectors, government data showed .
While overall poverty incidence among small-scale fisherfolk slid from 41.2 % in 2006 to 26.2 % in 2018, Pag-asa fisherfolk said that the economic improvement was barely felt on the island. Their output began to shrink in 2015 and they suspect that it was an impression of China ’ s presence in Subi Reef. The smash and cyanide fishing activities of Vietnamese-owned fishing vessels may besides have aggravated the deteriorating health of their coastal waters .
now, fisherfolk have to go farther from land and stay at ocean long, urgently chasing fish that vanish into the deeply ocean, navigating areas that their decrepit boats are not designed for. This means spending less fourth dimension with their families and more money on fuel, resulting in flush lower income that is barely enough to sustain their needs .
“ Before, a two-hour trip could yield more than three basins containing 50 kilogram of fish each. now, a whole day of staying at sea can ’ t even match that, ” said Hugo, a forefather to two grad educate girls. His biggest worry is not saving up adequate money for them to continue their studies .
“ My dream for [ my daughters ] is to finish their studies so they won ’ t end up like us. I don ’ metric ton want them to suffer the same hardships that we ’ ve been going through, ” said the fisherman, who, like his 32-year-old wife Jiera, did not graduate college .
To earn supernumerary income, Hugo now wakes up arsenic early as 4 am to go fishing before he reports for work at the municipal mansion at 7 am. The day he spoke to Rappler, he said he was “ blessed ” to bring home 7 kilogram of fish. His wife Jiera cleans and dries the unsold catch to preserve it, since there is no cold storehouse on the island. She sells it for P30 to P150 ( $ 0.30 to $ 3.15 ) per kilogram to soldiers before the C130 plane flies them back to the mainland.
Another fisherman, 59-year-old Romeo Malaguit, lamented that he had spent P480 ( about $ 10 ) for six liters of gasoline, merely to return without any catch after two straight days. back in 2018, he had a casual catch of up to 30 kilogram. nowadays, he ’ mho lucky if he can catch 1 to 3 kilogram ( $ 1.7 to $ 5 ) a day .
“ If we ’ rhenium luckier, sometimes we could catch 4 to 10 kg of mackerel and yellowfin tuna. We can actually feel the depletion as it ’ sulfur getting more and more unmanageable to bring home pisces, ” said Malaguit .
PAG-ASA. The new sheltered port at Pag-asa Island. courtesy of Eugenio Bito-onon Jr
Harassment at sea
respective nautical charts warn seafarers to exercise prudence when traversing around the ailing mapped Kalayaan Island Group. But it doesn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate prevent extraneous fishing fleets from operate on within the Philippines ’ 200-mile EEZ .
Data obtained by Rappler from Oceana Philippines showed that the WPS has been under changeless menace from large-scale, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. The administration said illegal commercial fish vessels in the WPS numbered 102,737 in 2018, and increased to 109,885 in 2019. When the pandemic reach in 2020, the incursions drastically dropped to 70,465, but were silent considered high .
“ If our government does nothing about it, soon there will be nothing to catch here, ” said Hugo. “ This is possible because the extraneous nationals with their ships are amassing tons and tons of fish. ”
In January to April 2021 alone, Oceana detected 25,451 commercial fish vessels in the WPS through the use of VIIRS, a satellite detector that can detect fishing boats that employ lights to attract pisces at night .
For Pag-asa fisherfolk, this makes WPS a parlous place. Their fear of getting harassed by China ’ randomness maritime forces has been compounded by a recently-passed controversial law that allows the chinese Coast Guard ( CCG ) to forcefully evict alien vessels entering these fiercely-contested waters .
On January 25, 2021, Hugo tried to go to Cay 2, an immaculate whiten sandbar emerging from a reef teeming with marine life. On his means, he said he was blocked by not just one, but four CCG vessels that had been lurking nearby. “ I have many enemies at sea. Look, those are chinese ships precisely in front of me, ” he said in a video he filmed as he propelled back to safety .
The incident made headlines, but Hugo ’ s claim was denied by both the Philippine military, who claimed that the incident was “ improbable, ” and the chinese embassy in Manila, which dismissed it as “ fabricated ” newsworthiness. progressive lawmakers and fisherfolk groups, however, stood by Hugo ’ s assertion, and accused the philippine military of colluding with China in denying the public incidents of harassment of fisherfolk in the WPS. chinese vessels have been accused of not lone engaging in illegal fish activities but besides ramming and sinking other countries ’ vessels .
“ That could happen to us, and it ’ five hundred be comfortable for them to say ‘ It ’ mho unintentional, ’ so our response is to leave that area once we see them approaching, ” explained Hugo .
other Pag-asa fisherfolk share similar experiences. The fisherfolk say that they had asked the authorities many times to do more to prevent intrusions. Their appeals didn ’ thymine lead to any change, until recently, when the filipino government finally lodged a diplomatic protest, demanding China ’ s withdrawal of assets around Pag-asa. still, despite populace criticism, Duterte has repeatedly insisted that asserting Philippine sovereignty could provoke war with his “ beneficial friend ” China – something that the Philippines, with its deficient military capabilities ( according to the President ), can ’ thymine afford .
CATCH. Fish catch in El Nido, Palawan Island in in the Philippines. Shutterstock
With no one to turn to, Pag-asa fisherfolk say that all they can do is express their rage in muteness. The only thing that appeases and makes them feel safe is a promise from island authorities to keep an eye out for the fisherfolk, particularly when they ’ re out at sea. “ At the end of the day, ” Hugo stressed, “ we can ’ thyroxine turn the tide because we have no world power to fight for our rights. ”
But despite the risks of be there, the fisherfolk ’ s optimism international relations and security network ’ thymine ebbing away. After all, it ’ sulfur Pag-asa – a Filipino news for “ hope ” – that they cling to in orderliness to stay afloat while drifting through the ocean of island life ’ mho uncertainties. They hope that when the philippine politics ultimately takes carry through, it won ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate be excessively late .
“ I haven ’ t grown tired of believing that there is however hope here, ” Hugo said. – Rappler.com
( Editor ’ mho note : All quotes have been translated into English. )
P1 = $ 47.82
Read more: What is the Maritime Industry?
This floor is part of Oceans Inc ’ s “ Fishers on the Frontlines, ” which explores how fisherfolk across the South China Sea have been impacted by IUU fishing and the ongoing maritime territorial quarrel .
Oceans Inc is a collaborative investigation by the Environmental Reporting Collective, involving 23 journalists from over a twelve countries looking into IUU fishing. Follow the full probe at www.oceansinc.earth .
