The president of the Philippines has said his administration will file a lawsuit if it finds sufficient evidence of cyanide fishing at Scarborough Shoal, a disputed fishing ground in the South China Sea.
“The best that we know is that there really is, as far as we can tell,” the country’s official news agency cited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as saying Tuesday, following the Philippine fisheries industry’s statement on Saturday blaming Chinese fishermen.
Developed decades ago as a method of capturing live fish for aquariums, cyanide fishing is now frequently used, including by Philippine fisherfolk, to catch seafood. The cyanide in question has allegedly been used at Scarborough Shoal, which China seized effective control of in 2012. China’s coast guard often ejects Philippine fishermen found operating there.
Nazario Briguera, a spokesperson for the Southeast Asian country’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said the agency believed the practice was intentional, with the goal of inflicting enough damage to the ecosystem that Philippine nationals would cease fishing operations there.
Philippines
Briguera estimated the alleged cyanide use may have already inflicted more than $17.8 million in damage.
“This claim is sheer fabrication. China has indisputable sovereignty over Huangyan Island and its adjacent waters,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in response to the accusation during Monday’s daily press conference.
She said that Beijing greatly values environmental protection and “resolutely fights against fishing activities that violate laws and regulations.”
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese embassy in the Philippines with a written request for comment.
Manila says the livelihoods of an estimated 385,000 Filipinos depend on harvests of seafood in waters around the country’s exclusive economic zone—an area extending 200 nautical miles beyond the coastline, within which international maritime law grants it the sole right to natural resources.
Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tarriela said that the agency does not currently have any evidence linking the cyanide to either China or Vietnam-flagged boats. Fishermen from both countries, like the neighboring Philippines, have traditionally operated in the shoal.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources told Newsweek Tuesday it was basing its allegation on the testimonies of local fisherfolk. An investigation is now underway, as directed by the country’s security council, the spokesperson said.
If the investigation spurs a lawsuit, it would not be the first time the Philippines has taken a legal approach to drawing international attention to a dispute.
In 2013, the country brought its territorial dispute with China, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, before an international arbitral tribunal. The five-judge panel ultimately ruled largely in Manila’s favor, though China has dismissed the decision as invalid.
Last September, the Philippine government said it was going forward with a lawsuit over the “innumerable and immeasurable damage” that has resulted from Chinese activity in adjacent waters.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.