THE fish scare brought about by the sinking of the passenger ship MV Princess of the Stars in Sibuyan, Romblon, last month is now severely affecting the fishing industry. 

Alonso Tan, president of the Interisland Deep Sea Fishing Association, an association of fishing companies based in Navotas, appealed Wednesday to government agencies to act with dispatch to address the problem, saying fishing companies are incurring huge losses because of the sharp decline in their sales over the past few days.

He said for almost a week now, fishing companies are having trouble disposing the big volume of fish they catch every day because of the wrong public perception that the fish being sold at the Navotas Fish Port came from Sibuyan and might have eaten dead human flesh or have been contaminated by endosulfan, the pesticide that sank along with the passenger ship during the height of Typhoon Frank on June 21.

The sunken passenger ship was carrying 10,000 kilos of endosulfan pesticide owned by Del Monte Philippines Inc.

Navotas Mayor Tobias Tiangco, who also expressed alarm over the adverse impact of the fish scare to the people of Navotas, assured the public that the fish being unloaded at the Navotas Fish Port are safe to eat. 

He said market authorities are on their toes to make sure that the fish being sold at the Navotas Fish Port to several fish dealers are not contaminated. 

A majority of the people in Navotas depend on the fishing industry.  “Either they are fishermen or employees of fishing companies, or fish dealers.  Others sell fish in the market.  You can just imagine how this fish scare is affecting their livelihood,” he said.

During a press conference at the Navotas Fish Port, Tiangco led officials and representatives of the Interisland Deep Sea Fishing Association, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) and the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority in celebrating the first-year anniversary of the cityhood of Navotas and they feasted on a variety of fish that are regularly being sold at the Navotas Fish Port as the main and only viand.

Tan said since the tragic sinking of the MV Princess of the Stars, which led to the fish ban in the area by the Department of Health in Sibuyan Island, sales at the Navotas Fish Port drastically declined by 50 percent.

He said fishing companies incur operational loss of P20 million a day because of the sharp decline in sales.

“This is because of the belief that the fish being unloaded at the Navotas Fish Port were caught in Sibuyan.  That is not true,” he said.

Tan clarified that the fish being unloaded in Navotas were caught by fishing companies in Mindanao and Visayas,” he said.

Bfar Acting Director Gil Adora also assured the public that the fish, shrimp, squid and other marine life being unloaded at the Navotas Fish Port are safe for human consumption.  He also said that there is no way that the fish have eaten human flesh from the corpse of those who died during the sea mishap. “Fish don’t eat corpse,” he said.

Tito Consejo, Navotas Fish Port manager, also assured that the fish being unloaded at the Navotas Fish Port are not from Sibuyan, which he said is not a traditional fishing ground. 

“Eighty percent of the fish that are being unloaded here in Navotas come from Mindanao and Visayas. The rest are from Luzon, but none come from Sibuyan,” he assured. 

Before the tragedy, he said the 200 tons of fish being unloaded at the Navotas Fish Port every day are sold before the strike of noon.  Today, he said only half of it or 100 tons are being sold.

“The people started to avoid eating fish since the tragedy.  Maybe because they fear that the fish are contaminated,” he said.        

Meanwhile, members of the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas on Wednesday blamed government officials led by Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Arthur Yap for the spread of fish scare all over the country that stemmed from an endosulfan-triggered fishing ban imposed by the DA in Romblon and nearby provinces.

The fish ban was imposed by the DA in connection with the sinking of MV Princess of the Stars carrying 10,000 kilos of the highly toxic pesticide inside the 40-foot container aboard the ship.

Fishing firms suffer losses from fish-contamination scare 

THE fish scare brought about by the sinking of the passenger ship MV Princess of the Stars in Sibuyan, Romblon, last month is now severely affecting the fishing industry. 

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