Illegal fishing takes toll on marine life in Quezon

COMMUNITY EFFORT | An Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin gets help from villagers and local marine experts after it got stranded on the coast of Barangay Kalilayan Ilaya in Quezon province’s
Unisan town on February 13, 2024.. (Photo courtesy of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Quezon)

LUCENA CITY, Quezon City, Philippines — The rampant illegal fishing activities in the seas off Quezon province are now taking their toll on marine species, an environmentalist group warned on Sunday.

Jay Lim, project officer of Tanggol Kalikasan (TK), reported that an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin was stranded on the coast of Barangay Kalilayan Ilaya in Unisan town on Feb. 13.

Lim described the 1.75-meter-long and 40-kilo dolphin as having red eyes that it could barely open and could not feed on its own.

The dolphin was rushed to the Unisan Multi-Species Hatchery for treatment.

Citing information from fishery authorities, Lim said the dolphin was separated from its pod due to possible disorientation from the effect of dynamite fishing, a destructive and prohibited method of catching fish that uses explosives.

Marine mammals often lose their acoustic sensors to loud noise, leading them to swim straight toward shallow waters and become stranded.

“Blast fishing and other destructive human activities in their habitat are now a serious threat to their existence,” Lim said in an interview.

Lim noted that TK had been receiving reports on stranded and dead dolphins and sea turtles in Tayabas Bay, Lamon Bay and Ragay Gulf in Quezon.

‘Concrete evidence’

“The stranding of marine species in the Quezon seas serves as concrete evidence that illegal fishing continues unabated,” Lim lamented.

Thirty-four of Quezon’s 42 towns are coastal—17 along Lamon Bay in the Pacific Ocean, 12 off Tayabas Bay facing the West Philippine Sea and five along the Ragay Gulf in the Bicol peninsula.

READ: Armed illegal fishers operate in Quezon waters, say groups

With the alarming situation, Lim expressed concern about the fate of the growing number of marine turtles, locally known as “pawikan.”

“The united efforts to save the pawikan are being threatened by the continuous illegal fishing operation. This is senseless and criminal,” Lim said.

He said they have recorded incidents where “helpless” marine turtles would just die from destructive fishing in their natural habitat.