Fishing ban lifted for all Oriental Mindoro shores

INSPECTION French experts have joined a team from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in testing water samples gathered from the shoreline of Pola town in Oriental Mindoro to measure the level of oil contamination from the sunken tanker MT Princess Empress, in this photo posted on the PCG Facebook on March 26, 2023. —Photo courtesy of PCG

MANILA, Philippines — The fishing ban for all Oriental Mindoro shorelines has been lifted after the remaining restrictions due to the oil spill from maritime tanker Princess Empress town were cleared, provincial Governor Humerlito Dolor announced.

Dolor, in a Facebook post on Thursday, said the fishing ban for Pola town has been removed after the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has not detected the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from the fish in the area.

This means all prohibitions placed after M/T Princess Empress sank and after oil from within it leaked have been lifted.

“Simula sa araw na ito, July 20, 2023, ang fishing sa Bayan ng Pola ay lifted (inaalis) na. Lahat din ng water activities sa baybayin ng Pola ay pinapayagan na,” Dolor said.

(Starting this day, July 20, 2023, fishing within the town of Pola has been lifted. All water-related activities along the shorelines are also already allowed.)

“Today, ating idinideklara na bukas na ang pangisdaan at gawain sa lahat ng baybayin ng Oriental Mindoro,” the governor said.

(Today, we declare that all fishing areas and water-related activities along Oriental Mindoro’s shoreline are open.)

Several fishing bans were previously put in place in different towns of Oriental Mindoro due to the oil spill last February.

Starting May, the provincial government started to lift the restrictions after observations that water has become free of toxic materials.

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