Negros folk who feasted on whale shark face raps

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – The provincial environment and natural resources office (PENRO) in Negros Oriental will file charges against residents of Amlan town who slaughtered an endangered whale shark trapped in a fish pen early this week.

In a phone interview, Senior Inspector Nestor Rubia, Amlan police chief, told The STAR yesterday that PENRO chief Oscar Magallanes will file charges against fish pen owner Cathy Caldamo and her brother, Jun, the caretaker who first discovered the whale shark trapped in the enclosure in Barangay Bio-os last Tuesday morning. 

Magallanes’ office will also charge the villagers who butchered the rare creature.

Rubia quoted Jun Caldamo as saying that the whale shark was already dead when he found it in their fish pen and that he rushed to the shore to report it to the Bantay Dagat.

Caldamo further told the police that when he went back to the fish pen, he found residents butchering the whale shark with knives.

Municipal environmental and natural resources officer Job Tagle said he found about a dozen villagers running away with big basins of meat carved from the whale shark when he reached Barangay Bio-os.

Caldamo told police that only the head of the shark was left when they arrived.

Tagle said it took at least 10 men to carry the head, which weighed about 200 kilograms, onto a van.

The whale shark had what looked like several bullet and spear wounds.

Rubia, however, expressed doubt on Caldamo’s claim that the shark was already dead when he found it, as the animal would not be able to enter the fish pen if this was so.

Rubia said the shark could still be alive before it was butchered, based on its wounds.

Rubia said they apprehended the villagers who feasted on the whale shark and turned over its head to Tagle, who, in turn, buried it on the shore of Barangay Bio-os later that day.

Conservation group WWF-Philippines said possession or slaughter of a whale shark can be punished by up to four years’ imprisonment plus a fine of up to P10,000.

Last February, a whale shark measuring five and a half meters, was found, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and WWF offered a reward for information on the culprits. No one has been arrested.

Whale sharks have been hunted for decades and a kilogram of dried fins can fetch up to $800 on the black market.     – With AP