Fayette
C. Riñen
CEBU, April 8 (PIA) – A team to be led by the Bureau of Fisheries
and Aquatic Resources (BFAR-7) has been created to check on the condition of
the whale sharks in Oslob in southern Cebu amid allegations their welfare have
been compromised due to constant unnatural feeding and contact with tourists.
BFAR-7 Regional Director Andres Bojos ordered his deputy Dr. Allan
Poquita to head the team along with other divers from other organizations to
check on the report of Lamave, a non-government organization, that the whale
sharks or ‘buntandings’ are in a malnourished state due to
regular feeding and physical contact with tourists.
Atty. Rose Liza Osorio, managing trustee of the Philippine Earth
Justice Center, Inc. (PEJCI) brought the Oslob issue before Bojos who presided
the 1st quarterly meeting of the Coastal Law Enforcement Alliance in Region 7
(CLEAR-7) early this week.
Osorio said Lamave just released its findings about the violations
happening in Oslob that affected the welfare of the whale sharks.
Whale sharks are highly migratory species and constantly feeding
them tends to domesticate them which is a violation, said Osorio citing
the recent findings of Lamave.
Lamave stands for Large Marine Vertebrates which has a project in
the Philippines with conservation efforts to protect sharks, turtles, rays and
cateceans from exploitation.
Osorio also said the regular feeding made the whale sharks lose
its natural instinct to look for food opting to stay in the area because foods
are readily made available to them.
The physical encounter with tourists touching whale sharks is also
a violation, echoed the PEJCI official of Lamave’s findings.
“Such violations have contributed to the ‘malnourished’ condition
of the whale sharks,” said Osorio.
Bojos, however, said there is no legal basis to prohibit the
tourists from feeding the whale sharks. “There is no law that states it is
illegal to feed the whale sharks,” stressed Bojos.
Although Bojos said BFAR’s position is clear that it is against
feeding the whale sharks. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources
(DENR-7) also shared the same view, he said.
“We have already discussed this with the municipal officials of
Oslob before,” said Bojos but in the absence of a law that forbids feeding the
whale sharks has further complicated the issue.
Bojos asked Osorio for a hard copy of Lamave’s findings before
taking hard steps to address the issue. “Since I do not have a copy of
Lamave’s report, all these are mere allegations and what I will act on right
now is to initially form a team to look into these allegations,” said Bojos.
Bojos asked Poquita to record frequency of sightings and to
particularly look into the physical condition of the buntandings.
The presence of whale sharks in Oslob has catapulted the 4th class
municipality into a popular tourist destination for both local and
international visitors contributing much to the socio-economic activities of
the townsfolk. (rmn/fcr/PIA7)