Cavite reclamation projects killing 'tahong' industry

MANILA, Philippines - Small fishermen and tahong (mussel) growers in Bacoor City, Cavite are blaming the massive reclamation projects in Manila Bay in the drastic reduction of their harvest, a militant group said Wednesday.

Myrna Candinato, head of the Pamalakaya fisherfolk group affiliated Alyansa ng Mandaragat ng Bacoor, Cavite, said the controversial Cavite Expressway Road Extension project caused the environmental destruction in Bacoor Bay.

Candinato said that before the reclamation, she and other tahong growers used to collect 200 gallons per day during harvest season.

She said that they used to earn P30 per gallon of tahong a day and the harvest would last for a week, enabling them to earn at least P30,000 per harvest season.

Today, harvest of tahong during harvest season limits them to an average of 30 gallons to 50 gallons of tahong a day, a decline of 75 percent in tahong harvest compared to the pre-reclamation days, she added.

"If these reclamation projects will not be stopped by President Benigno Aquino III, the struggling tahong industry will be dead in the next few years," Candinato said.

Pamalakaya vice chairperson Salvador France said that large-scale reclamation projects have displaced people from their main source of livelihood and destroyed marine environment.

France said that if the P14 billion Manila Bay reclamation projects in Las Piñas and Parañaque would push through, it will "kill" small fishermen and tahong growers in Bacoor, Las Piñas, Parañaque and as far as Navotas, Malabon in the Camanava area and in Bulacan province.