BFAR to escort Chinese vessel out of Tubbataha?

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is sending a patrol boat to Palawan today to escort the Chinese fishing vessel caught with protected marine species out of the Tubbataha marine reserve.

A source told The STAR in a phone interview that the decision to send the BFAR vessel was arrived at after the Navy diverted the BRP Rizal, which was supposed to escort the Chinese vessel Hoi Wan out of the protected area, to Patunga Island in Magsaysay, Palawan to respond to reports of armed incidents.

The source added that BFAR director Malcolm Sarmiento assured local World Wildlife Fund president Lory Tan that the 300 live Napoleon wrasses (locally known as Mameng) would be taken into BFAR custody immediately.

Tan, quoting Sarmiento’s text message, said that Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap and the BFAR chief have talked to an official at the Chinese Embassy to help convince the foreign vessel’s captain to turn over the fish to Philippine authorities.

Tan also said in a statement that they have received information that the Napoleon wrasses are already showing signs of decline.

This species is listed under Appendix 2 of the Convention for the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

"Mere possession of this type of fish, without proper official permits from the BFAR, is a crime. Sarmiento confirmed that they did not give any such permit to the Hoi Wan, or its Filipino operation managers, South Pacific Inter-marketing Corp.," Tan said.

The Chinese vessel, carrying only MARINA and Customs papers, showed that it entered Philippine waters via Bonggao, in Tawi-Tawi. The vessel also carried papers allowing it only to buy fishery products from the Philippines. Its crew also reportedly carried only temporary work permits.

"The existence of compressors on board the apprehended vessel is an indication that fishing may have been done. One does not need compressors (widely used in the live fish trade) simply to buy fish," he said.

This, according to Tan, is compounded by the fact that they attempted to flee when they were approached by the Park’s patrol boat.

The Chinese crewmen also claim that they were just innocently passing through the Philippines.

"Why, then, did they enter Park boundaries in the very center of the Sulu Sea, and stop at Tubbataha Reef, instead of proceeding along known international shipping lanes?" he asked.

"The BFAR is mobilizing a 30-meter patrol boat for the trip to Tubbataha to conduct the Chinese vessel back to Puerto Princesa," Sarmiento’s text message to Tan said.

A legal officer of the BFAR has also arrived in Puerto Princesa to prepare the charges against 30 Chinese nationals.

The STAR source added that Palawan residents are now preparing a diplomatic protest addressed to the Chinese government.

"For more than a decade now, the people of Palawan have witnessed how some Chinese nationals have brazenly encroached upon our territorial waters and ravaged the fishery and aquatic resources of the Philippines. These Chinese fishers have gone to the extent of pillaging the fish, endangered marine turtles and other marine mammals of the internationally renowned Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP), considered the largest coral reef habitat and the only purely marine World Heritage Site in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia," the note verbale obtained by The STAR stated.

"Our records show that between 1995 and 2006, almost 600 Chinese nationals have been caught in Palawan and some even in the Tubbataha Reefs. In almost every instance, concerned government agencies have initiated legal actions against these foreign fishers," it added. — James Mananghaya