COTABATO CITY, Philippines — A school of sardines was swept into the shores in Maasim, Sarangani yesterday, prompting residents to flock to the beach to gather and collect them.
For villagers, this peculiar but normal phenomenon was a sign that the New year will usher in good things.
Local officials in Barangay Tinoto oversaw the collection of what experts called juvenile pelagic sardines, so everybody could have their fair share of the fish.
The beaching of fish along shorelines is caused by the sudden change in sea temperatures and wave directions as well as the lack of planktons for fish to feed on.
“This is a blessing from God. We are thankful to God for this,” villager Allan Gomez Dionaldo, 28, told journalists.
Dionaldo and his neighbors each collected at least five buckets of sardines.
Hundreds of others brought home at least 20 to 30 kilos each of the fish called lopoy in the local dialect.
Residents used their bare hands in scooping up the fish from the shore to their basins and buckets.
Cirilo Aquadera Lagnason Jr. of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Soccsksargen (South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos) said the beaching of the sardines did not necessarily indicate underwater seismic activities.