MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines blamed Chinese fishermen on Monday for a massive loss of giant clams in a disputed shoal controlled by China’s coast guard in the South China Sea and urged an international inquiry into the amount of environmental damage in the area. The Philippine coast guard presented surveillance photographs of Chinese fishermen harvesting large numbers of giant clams for a number of years in a lagoon at Scarborough Shoal, but said signs of such activities stopped in March 2019. Parts of the surrounding coral appeared to be badly scarred, in what the coast guard said was apparently a futile search by the Chinese for more clams. The lagoon is a prominent fishing area which Filipinos call Bajo de Masinloc and the Chinese calll Huangyan Dao off the northwestern Philippines. “Those were the last remaining giant clams that we saw in Bajo de Masinloc,” Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said at a news conference. |
Thai plastics firm will pay $20 million to settle with U.S. over Iran sanctions violationsVideo of 2 bear cubs pulled from trees prompts North Carolina wildlife investigation but no chargesDEAR CAROLINE: Our son and daughterNHL PLAYOFFS: West best Dallas vs. defending champion Vegas headlines 1stJameson Taillon comes off the injured list and pitches Cubs to 8Religious leader faces new charge in case that brought 5Probe underway into highway school bus fire that sent 10 students fleeing in New JerseyReligious leader faces new charge in case that brought 5Rangers option rookie Jack Leiter 1 day after he allowed 7 runs in his major league debutSouth Africa man convicted in deaths of 2 Alaska Native women faces revocation of U.S. citizenship