Poachers take Broodstock Tridacnas from Philippines

[John_Brandt]

Poachers take giant clams from University of Philippines marine lab


March 30, 2004

By Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Northern Luzon Bureau
Inquirer News Service - Philippines


BOLINAO, Pangasinan - More giant clams (Tridacna gigas) being conserved and protected here by the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI) laboratory were lost to poachers.

Dr. Suzanne Mingoa-Licuanan, UPMSI's giant clam project leader, said 10 shells of broodstock clams between six and 13 years old were found at the UPMSI giant clam nursery near the Silaki Island here.

"It appeared that the meat of the clams were taken and the shells were dumped at random in the ocean nursery," Licuanan said.

She asked Bolinao Mayor Jesus Celeste to investigate a report that a resident from Barangay (village) Luciente I here was supplying giant clam meat to another village.

"I suspect that he is among those who are (stealing) our clams in Silaki. I implore you to at least investigate this angle. Perhaps a visit to his (house) by the police will be enough to intimidate him," Licuanan told Celeste in a letter.

Poaching has hounded the giant clam conservation project of the UPMSI.

In May last year, 27 mature clams at the institute's ocean nursery were stolen. Last December, 67 giant clams were also stolen from the Hundred Islands National Park (HINP) near the Quezon Island. The clams were taken to the Cuenco Island where the meat was harvested.

Giant clam ocean nurseries tend to attract fish and later become nursery grounds for different species of edible fish, said Licuanan.

"Sad to say, the culprits who stole the clams did not realize this important contribution of the species to the marine environment," she said.

Harvesting of giant clams or even possession of its shells violates Republic Act No. 9147 or the wildlife protection and conservation act.

Tridacna gigas, the largest of the giant clam species, can grow up to 1.2 meters (four feet) in diameter. Once it settles into a place, it stays there for the rest of its life.

More than 10,000 giant clams have been introduced at the HINP through the joint restoration project of the UPMSI, which reared the clams, and the Philippine Tourism Authority.

http://www.inq7.net/reg/2004/mar/31/reg_4-1.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Sad sad sad day in wildlife conservation

 

[cdeakle]

Very sad, man I wish I could have been there to catch them, my glock needs to be cleaned anyways....

 

[WannaBeReefer]

To bad you could not hook up a video camera or something to monitor the area.

 

[Anonymous]

John it is unfortunate and its unfortunate that this happens all over the world to all animals that are protected..the question is what do we do to help??

 

[tangir1]

I don't know how difficult it is to get into the lab., but it is pathetic for them to do this for some clam meat that don't even taste acceptible to Southeast Asian standard.

 

[teevee]

Damn those starving people in third-world countries who just want to feed their families! :roll:

 

[tangir1]

I doubt that starvation is the reason, but John know more about that part of country more than me. If I were them, I would eat the curators and students if I am that hungry. Again, giant clam meat is not as good as chicken.

 

[John_Brandt]

This particular UPMSI lab is a clam nursery in the ocean. I doubt that it has continual security, if much at all. It may not even be within sight of the coast.

I agree tangir1 that Tridacna doesn't taste as good as chicken (I had T. derasa in Samoa), but it is a prized flesh in Southeast Asia nonetheless. They eat deep-fried chicken heads too. Yum!

This is tragic but also shows the lack of respect and understanding that people share worldwide.

Filipino journalism is quite bawdy. Here we see a suspect is suggested in a national media venue: She asked Bolinao Mayor Jesus Celeste to investigate a report that a resident from Barangay (village) Luciente I here was supplying giant clam meat to another village.

"I suspect that he is among those who are (stealing) our clams in Silaki. I implore you to at least investigate this angle. Perhaps a visit to his (house) by the police will be enough to intimidate him," Licuanan told Celeste in a letter.

 

[teevee]

You cannot seriously believe that somehow Filipinos in the long run hold radically different values than us Westerners. I am certain, based on my own time spent working with Filipinos and on my understanding of what it is to be human, that given an adequate level of knowledge of what the effect of their actions are, coupled with "proper" gainful employment, these types of crimes would diminish if not vanish. Michael Moore and the protectionists can push anti-globalization all they want, but all they're doing is keeping the citizens of other countries held down. The solution to clam-theft isn't jailing the guilty parties, it's forgiving them and helping them find jobs where they can actually afford to live within the limits of the law (assuming Filipino teenagers don't engage in clam-stealing as a sort of machismo thing :roll.

 

[Anonymous]

yeah...dont jail em..beat em...

 

[tangir1]

Alright, third try. Think about putting your feet in the proachers' shoe... do you really think that someone who will go thru all the hassle to get into a lab in the middle of the sea, pick up 10 clams, remove the meat, and dump the shells randomly in the facility just for the meat?

It is like accusing my Japanese neighbors of breaking into my house, catch my puffers, cut off the best part, and dump parts of the fish in my bedroom, garage, kitchen, and living room. Oh, there was three $20 bills in the kitchen table that they used to wipe the blood off the knife.

 

[Anonymous]

So they took the clams for fun? is it that inconceivible that someone would like to eat clams..hell people eat oysters and monkey brains...maybe your Japanese neighbors dont like american money? maybe they like the Yen better? no? I think the fact of the matter is that they were taken regardless of whatever reason..they probably knew that those clams belonged to the University and took them out of disrespect..that i think is the point John is making..

 

[John_Brandt]

I don't think there's as much disagreement in this thread over the issues related to this story as it seems.

I can't say anything with certainty, but my feelings about the situation are this:

These clams were targeted for theft and then butchered and sold because Tridacna clam meat is prized as a delicacy in the Philippines (and throughout Asia and the South Pacific) and there is a ready market for it. Large clams are scarce in populated areas because they are intensively hunted for food. It is unlikely that these were (or any clams are) taken simply for sustenance. Other meats are readily available such as chicken, pork, fish and seafoods.

What is tragic and ironic about this is that the poacher overlooks the fact that these clams are used to develop strategies to aquaculture and repopulate wild stocks. Impulsive selfish motives was the cause. It is possible that no amount of education, alternative foods or wealth would stop this sort of thing from occuring. It is a human universal and is not limited to poor Filipinos. Middle Class obese American hunters will sneak into National Parks and shoot threatened and protected animals.

 

[Anonymous]

It is possible that no amount of education, alternative foods or wealth would stop this sort of thing from occuring. It is a human universal and is not limited to poor Filipinos. Middle Class obese American hunters will sneak into National Parks and shoot threatened and protected animals.

Yes middle and upper class do the same thing..i think it is in human genetics to be skummy and selfish!

 

[John_Brandt]

Puffer fish: ‘too risky to eat’


By Linette C. Ramos
Sun.Star News Cebu - Philippines
April 23, 2003

AFTER four children died reportedly for eating puffer fish or “buriring,” the Department of Health (DOH) 7 yesterday warned the public against eating the poisonous fish, which is abundant during summer.

Doctors at the pediatrics ward of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) said 11-year-old Cristina Estrera is already in stable condition but still needs to be confined for further observation.

Three of her siblings, however, did not make it. Another girl died also for eating puffer fish Monday afternoon.

The Estrera children were rushed to VSMMC past 11 p.m. last Sunday while some 18 other residents of Caubian Island in Lapu-Lapu City fell ill after eating puffer fish.

Puffer fish, which has neurotoxins in its internal organs, are seasonal and said to be abundant in the months of March and April.

Dr. Emmanuel Gines, VSMMC emergency room chief, said the children suffered from poisoning secondary to indigestion.

Cristina’s younger siblings, three-year-old Rosemarie and 10-year-old Angela, did not survive the poisoning and died at the same hospital last Monday. Their four-year-old brother, Stephen, died even before he could reach the hospital.

The Estreras’ neighbor, 10-year-old Rey Cesar Inoc, was already discharged from VSMMC after he was treated last Monday.

Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (Resu) 7 Chief Dr. Junjie Zuasula said the public should avoid eating puffer fish to prevent poisoning.

High toxin

“Puffer fish has very high toxin concentration on its skin and in some of its internal parts like the intestine, ovary and the liver. When this is not properly prepared for human consumption, it causes poisoning so I would advise that we all refrain from eating it,” he said in an interview yesterday.

Although it is unlikely, doctors are not discounting the possibility that the children may have also died of poisoning from cyanide since the fish was reportedly caught through cyanide fishing.

Gines explained that cyanide is very lethal and can cause death almost instantly, or a matter of minutes or hours since its intake.

Angela died at 8:45 a.m. last Monday while Rosemarie died past 5 p.m. of the same day.

“The attending physicians were told that the puffer fish was caught with the aid of cyanide so we also can’t discount the possibility that they died because of that,” Gines told reporters during a press conference at VSMMC yesterday morning.

 

[Anonymous]

what a drag...this reminds me of a Forensic Files episode. This Lady murdered her husband, via cyanide. The death was originally ruled emphesema or something, she later bought tylenol tablets and replaced the contents of the capsules with cyanide.She returned the bottles to the shelf..Another person died...she reported to the police her husband died a week early suspiciously..long story short they nailed her and all she wanted to do was get the insurance money to open a freakin fish store!!!! I know there is no real relavance but just made me think of that..

 

[John_Brandt]

3 children die after eating puffer fish


March 18, 2002
By Job Belen
Inquirer News Service - Philippines


LEGAZPI CITY – Three young members of a family died and nine others are in serious condition at a hospital here due to food poisoning from a kind of fish, locally known as butete, that they ate for dinner Friday.

Estelito Jr., 5, Beata, 11, and Diony, 4 – all surnamed Ariola – of Barangay Bagacay in this city died while being treated at the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) here.

In critical condition are their father Estelito, 60, and mother Violeta, 43; sisters Jennifer, 9, Junnyvie, 7, and Gina, 8 months old; and neighbor-relatives Orlando Bongon and his brother Jun, and Orlando Altabano, 40.

Altabano, who survived the poisoning, said they ate butete, which the Ariola family had prepared for dinner in the absence of better food to eat.

He said they ate the fish around 6 p.m. and after three hours he felt dizzy, vomited and fainted – the same experience the Ariola family had.

The Bongon brothers went on fishing at the Poliqui Bay in the southern village here after taking early their dinner.

They, however, returned home around 7 p.m. after they felt dizziness and vomiting, relatives said.

The victims were rushed to the BRTTH by their neighbors.

Doctors could not yet determine the cause of poisoning. Tests to determine the toxin were being made.

Health officials are considering the possibility of red tide poisoning.

But elderly folk warned against eating butete as, they claimed, there had already been similar incidents of food poisoning in the past.

City Mayor Noel Rosal immediately visited the victims in the hospital and ordered city health officer Sarah Vasquez to send doctors.

“The victims are all from poor families who need help,” Rosal said.