China intrusion won’t slow PH fishers

MASINLOC, Zambales—Officials and fishermen in this coastal town are not taking the territorial dispute over Bajo de Masinloc (also known as Scarborough or Panatag Shoal) sitting down.

Although the aggression of China’s Coast Guard patrolling the shoal has disrupted the day-to-day fishing activities of residents here, it has also opened doors for alternative sources of income.

The provincial government has acted on the fishermen’s concerns as well, entering into a deal with a Canadian firm to set up a surveillance system against Chinese intrusion into provincial waters.

Mayor Desiree Edora said the standoff in and around the shoal has given birth to various organizations and cooperatives that offer financial support for and livelihood to affected villagers.

“We conducted capacity building to train and prepare the fishermen and their families in handling their own livelihood projects,” Edora said at a forum with fishermen on Saturday.

She said villagers, who bear the brunt of China’s aggression near the shoal, are undergoing training either on organic agriculture or ecotourism business opportunities, like mangrove and fish sanctuary tours.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has also been placing artificial reefs outside the municipal water as alternative fishing grounds, Edora said.

She said there are also efforts to sustain the local fishing industry, through the maintenance of marine protected areas and strengthening coastal resource conservation and management projects.

“The local government is doing its best,” Edora said.

Refuge

The area near the shoal in the West Philippine Sea, some 230 kilometers from Masinloc’s coastline, is a rich fishing ground for locals. The shoal is also a refuge for fishermen during bad weather.

“In spite of these activities, we do believe that we cannot [come close to] the blessings derived from fishing near the Scarborough Shoal,” Edora said.

Macario Forones, 56, who used to engage in commercial fishing near the disputed shoal for 12 years, said fishing near the shoal is already a thing of the past.

“I already sold some of our boats immediately after we were harassed by China’s Coast Guard in several instances from 2011 to 2013,” Forones said. “We never returned to the shoal.”

‘Ordinary fish vendor’

Forones has turned from a big time fish trader into what he described as an “ordinary fish vendor” at the town market.

Most local fishermen are avoiding the shoal and limiting their activities within municipal waters, he said.

But Zambales Gov. Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. has given the fishermen a reason to feel safe while they are out in their coastal waters.

He assured them that the provincial government is keeping track of foreign vessels illegally entering their territorial water through a Provincial Coast Watch System.

The $7.5-million surveillance system, Ebdane said, was put up by Vancouver-based technology company Xanatos Marine Ltd. to monitor in real time all vessels that enter the province’s territorial waters.

Ebdane said the system, as of 6 p.m. on May 15, had detected 35 vessels in Zambales’ territorial waters.

He said the provincial government is also assisting other government agencies, such as the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard, to ensure that laws are enforced to make foreign vessels liable for illegally entering the province.

Forum

The forum with the fishermen was organized by local officials in time for the visit of foreign journalists who are looking into territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea, also called the South China Sea.

Fisherman Rodencio Edora, 65, took the chance to urge the international journalists “to let the whole world know about our sad plight.”

“The shoal is Philippine territory. We’re calling for the removal of China’s Coast Guard from that area,” he told the 15 visiting journalists, who are fellows under the Hawaii-based East-West Center’s Jefferson fellowship program.