Group commits $1.8 M to conserve Cagayan eel

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – An international conservationist group has committed $1.8 million to save the endangered eel species of Cagayan province from extinction. 

The Philippine Information Agency regional office in Tuguegarao City said the funds, to be provided by the London-based Global Conservation International (GCI), will be used in the conduct of biodiversity and threat assessment and mitigation, and for livelihood and international trade.

Matthew Gollocks, of the Zoology Society of London, and Joyce Wu of Traffic East Taiwan were in town last week for a meeting with fishery officials headed by Jovita Ayson, regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).      

Gollocks said their group has been into eel conservation efforts in the American and Caribbean Islands, whose eel population also continues to dwindle.

Ayson said the meeting was aimed to identify the problems in the conservation program and come up with long-term measures that would prevent the eel, especially the Anguillid species, from extinction.

Anguillid is a species of eel found in Cagayan’s fresh water and in other areas in northern Philippines.

Earlier, the BFAR expressed alarm over the overharvesting of eels due to the rising demand in the international market, especially in China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The eel is believed to have aphrodisiac properties.