Thresher sharks becoming ‘rare’ in Malapascua

CEBU, Philippines - Thresher sharks are seemingly becoming rare in Malapascua Island after poachers from Negros Occidental killed 19 sharks in the waters off Hagnaya Port in San Remigio town last week, according to a marine biologist.

Marine biologist Gary Cases, a member of the Shark Savers Network, said five days after sharks were caught on September 21, local and foreign divers have not seen sharks in Monad Shoal, a protected seascape which is home to the rare thresher shark species.

“This is the first incident since the shoal has been monitored. Wala g’yud nakita didto five days after the incident,” he said.

He said they saw at least three sharks yesterday.

“Naa na ta’y nakit-an tulo nagbalik-balik but not as much as before,” he said.

Monad Shoal near Malapascua Island in Daanbantayan town reportedly remains the only place in the world where scuba divers can see pelagic thresher sharks almost every day.

Malapascua has Monad Shoal and Kemod Shoal, two underwater islands close to deep water trenches which are cleaning stations for these sharks. The sharks swim up to Moalboal in southern Cebu to hunt for food and swim back to Malaspascua for cleaning. 

In fact, the town established the first and reportedly only shark and ray sanctuary in the country through Executive Order 16-2015, which prohibits the catching and trading of all shark and ray species in Monad Shoal and Gato Island. This is because the province considers sharks as “valuable for both its ecological and economic value.”

Cases said tourists have been visiting the island mainly for the thresher sharks and it will affect their tourism if poaching continues.

“Our tourism is very dependent on the presence of thresher sharks. So what those guys did to our tourism industry here is tantamount to economic sabotage,” he said.

All local dive operators do their thresher dives early in the morning as research shows the time between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. has the largest number of sightings.

There have been sightings of the common thresher shark and the big eye thresher shark, but they are rare in Monad. They are also assessed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2007.

Cases said the sharks take 10 to 12 years to mature, particularly the females.

“It takes 11 years to have sexual maturity and it takes about their entire lifespan, which is 20 to 22 years. So kadtong ilahang gipatay karon those are two generations so ni set back ta sa atong population by two generations. So that is a loss of two generations that means 20 years,” he added.

It was Board Member Sun Shimura who brought the incident to the attention of the Provincial Board yesterday. The PB then asked the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and Provincial Environment and Natural Resources to file cases against the 14 shark poachers.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources earlier said that they will file a case within the week against the owner of fishing boat F/B Sweet Angel, including the boat captain and 13 crew members for violation of Section 20 of the Republic Act 7586 known as the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992 and Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act or RA 9147.

The PB passed a resolution yesterday to this effect, saying “the fishing boat operating and the crew should be held liable for such horrendous killing of thresher sharks.” (FREEMAN)