Lingayen ‘visitors’ new tourist-drawers

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — This province, known for its historic Lingayen Gulf and its beautiful beaches, may yet have another tourist-attraction that local government units (LGUs) could tap.

Westley Rosario, officer-in-charge of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) based in Dagupan City, has been telling national environment officials in some gatherings that the Gulf was often visited by dolphins and whale sharks the past two years.

"Ayaw nilang maniwala sa akin (They didn’t want to believe me). I even told him that we have a cemetery built within the BFAR compound in Dagupan City purposely for dead dolphins that beached in the Gulf," Rosario said.

After showing them evidence to support his claim, these environment officers started to put on record this "phenomenon" which up to now remains a mystery to Pangasinenses and fishery officials alike.

In fact, since last Sunday, three of these endangered whale sharks (one mother and two of her babies) that belong to the Rhincodon typus specie gave yet another rare treat to beachlovers in this town when they showed up and played with some swimmers who were not afraid to go near them.

They stayed at the beach just at the back of the provincial Capitol building for several days to the delight of several government workers, children and old folks alike. Then, the whale sharks swam a few meters farther back to the back of Narciso Ramos Sports Complex until yesterday.

Maritime police nabbed four illegal fishermen who threw dynamite at the whale sharks. Inspector Mateo Casupang, chief of the Maritime Police in Dagupan City said in a radio interview at dzSD Super Radyo yesterday that they have filed criminal cases against the suspects in a local court here. — Eva de Leon