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. |
Watch live: Millions across North America await total solar eclipseBaltimore bridge collapses after being struck by ship, six presumed deadFour killed, several injured as race car hits spectators at Hungary rally'Chubby Hearts' installation launches in Hong KongTens of thousands of Israelis rally in Tel Aviv demanding Gaza hostage dealAT&T data breach: Millions of customers caught up in major dark web leakHK's West Kowloon arts hub to run out of funds in 2025: CEORussia hits vast dam in war's largest strike on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Kyiv saysUN expert visits Motueka to learn about Nelson Tenths case3 Body Problem: Lawyer sentenced to death for Lin Qi murder