Part I: Endangered ‘Mameng,’ protected species openly traded
Part II: Sustainable seafood alternatives key to protecting dwindling marine species
By Gregory Paul H. Yan
VERA Files
His eyes veered toward a single occupant: A dull grayish-green fish delicately flecked with the darkest cyan diamonds, around the same size and build as a jumbo Tilapia, but with much thicker lips.
The day’s search was done. At last, a Mameng.
“Alam niyo po bang illegal iyan (Do you know that’s illegal)?” he asked a slight, mustachioed shop attendant cleaning a tank. Distracted, the attendant shot the WWF representative a quick glance,then shrugged.
Click here (VERA Files) for the rest of the story.
Unsure if Piranhas can be eaten but during my many visits to Mexico, you can buy this deadly fish and smuggle it out to the US if you’re lucky not to get caught. Never heard of anyone doing it though.
Malungkot na tayo din ang sumisira ng mga kayaman natin,,we are rich in our natural resources..it is true we have laws to protedt our natural resources..but madulas ang pera and maraming mahihirap..on the other hand mahilig ang karamihan sa mga Chinese sa mga pagkain na nakakaiba..mayaman sila…nakakaiba nga talaga…ang buhay kung mayaman ka..
doon sa Antique, sa Nogas Island maraming klaseng isda ang pinagaaralan ng mga students sa School of Fisheries..ang mga endangered species na gaya nito ay dapat icultivate..I am just wondering mayroon bang ginagawa ang gobyeno? I wonder if we have foreign investors who would put their money in this industry? how about our Chinese investors? after all they love to eat fish..why not help to cultivate them so you have more to satisfy your desires..at makakatulong ka pa sa mga mahihirap…ito ang dapat ang export legally…
kaya lang seguro may magsasabi na unlike the illegal drugs mahirap mag palusot ng isda…babaho sa bag o sa maleta…huli sila kaagad…at bitay sila…ay naku! the irony of life..
dito sa norway kapag sumobra ang dami ng wolves ay puede na silang barilin ng libre. dapat may listahan din ang wwf ng mga sobrang tao sa mundo tulad ng mga corrupt politicians natin sa pinas para may hunting season sa kanila.
I like that, norphil. Noon nga nabanggit ko dito para matigil ang mga abusado sa Pilipinas, gawing legal na pumatay ng isang tao lang ang bawat isa pero once in a lifetime lang magagamit yang privilege. Palagay ko titino ang lahat ng Pilipino, hindi lang mga politiko.
Back to topic. I am a very lucky person to have come face-to-face with a large live rare Mameng. It is also known as Napoleon Wrasse of simply Napoleon Fish. Many consider it as the Holy Grail of scuba divers. Many scour the oceans beds for hours just to get a glimpse of this enormous beauty which I chance-encountered right at the 10-ft high man-made coral hill at the resort’s pier. This was in Sta. Isabel, Palawan. I was stunned by the diversity of fish just right at the pier and before I noticed it, there in front of me were two eyes checking me out from head to toe, er, fin, a huge forehead painted like a warrior’s face tattoos. It looked thin at about 3 or 4 inches but the moment it moved to circle me once, I saw how huge it was – more than a meter from its nakasimagot na Pops Fernandez overdone lips to its tail and about two feet tall. I panicked when it started to nibble on the fluorescent print in my Maui shorts, damn! It’s goin to eat my dickey-doo! I kicked at the fish’ belly and scampered away drinking gallons of Palawan saltwater from my snorkel. The lifeguard then told me I could have just killed a 50,000-peso fish.
I was just snorkeling that morning so after the encounter, I asked my divemaster if I can take underwater photos of the mameng during our dive. He said you can just buy any of the diving magazines at the resort lobby and all those were pictures of this wrasse which has considered the pier her home. This lady I almost killed has done many covers in popular international dive mags.
Like many diving resorts in Palawan, it is forbidden to catch fish, especially this rare specie of Napoleon wrasse that many foreign diving enthusiasts flock to Palawan just to see it and other rare marine life. Tubbataha, El Nido, Sta. Isabel, Coron abound with them. Many Napoleon poachers sell their catch to Hong Kong it is not rare that you see helicopters picking up fresh catch from private boats before they are air-freighted to Hong Kong or taken to expensive fine dining restos in Manila.
In one magazine I’ve read, Indonesia and Malaysia have gone tough on the illegal mameng trade but the Philippines still needs to punish those who have been caught. I think I remember the 2007 arrest of Chinese poachers with hundreds of live mamengs spent just a few days in jail and were released after paying a small fine.
This Attila the Hun attitude is disgusting.
Tongue, we are our own worst enemies… people see the short term but not the long term and then when it’s gone, we feel sorry… Fiesta attitude or bahala na…
You’re right, Anne. But the large fish here or near our seas are harvested by the Japanese, Chinese, even Westerners in large scale. Our small kumpits are no-contest to the huge foreign fishing vessels that can carry 200Tons of 100-kilo and up each of Pacific Yellowfin Tuna.
True blue,
You can actually buy piranha here, the red bellied ones, last time I asked the price was 5,000php a pop, size a little bit bigger than a zippo lighter. I know someone who keeps some as pets, feeding time is very interesting. I wanted to buy some earlier but as usual my wife used her veto power. Of course not in the pet shops, secret daw.
Tongue,
These large foreign shipping vessels are even equipped with sonar and the whole school could even be harvested. They say the catch is getting fewer due to overfishing.
My personal favorite is the tuna eye soup made from the big eyed tuna served in Marina Tuna restaurant in Davao almost across Waterfront Hotel.
Re piranhas, I wonder what would happen if they happen to be introduced to our river systems? Will they go ferral?
@norpil: Ditto in the hills of San Clemente California some year ago,(several miles to Dick Nixon’s estate and the San Onofre Nuclear Plant) where thousands of wild goats were made a target shooting by sheriffs on hovering helicopter. Maybe these goats thrived due to some radiation, wink!
@11 n 13: Didn’t know we have piranhas in Pinas. What province or particular region?
I really don’t mind having them as pets, maybe there not here.
True blue,
Piranhas are imported illegally, marami din kasi may gusto ng exotic pets dito along with tarantula spiders, mostly birds, yung iba nga diyan tiger pa etc., if you have the right connections madali lang.
I think I still have a picture in my phone with me beside the aquarium I’ll send to Ellen, medyo weird siguro taste ko sa pets kasi gustong gusto ko talaga.
I just noticed it now, Ellen said Cartimar, my friend bought his precious little toothy babies there. I really love the sharp looking, triangle shaped teeth, but you really start to appreciate them when you drop a goldfish or a mouse in the tank.
jug, In one company I worked with in the past, we had branches in Davao, Cebu, and Bacolod in the South. Whenever any of the top guns here had their birthdays, we’d pick up from the airport their pulutan contribution, my favorite is inihaw na “panga” from Davao, and blue marlin belly barbecue from Cebu, and crispy lapu-lapu from Bacolod. That was mid-80s.
Cartimar is famous (or notorious) for exotic, endangered, and illegally-traded animals. Albino pythons, pecans, kalaw, tarsiers, sharks, 10-foot long golden arrowanas, anteaters, armadillos, they have it. When my neighbor closed his shop there, he gave me a mynah which can speak about fifty phrases. When selling mynahs was outlawed by DENR, the bird died.
Cartimar is walking distance from the Magdalo Resto.
TT, eh ano yung Cartimar sa may Recto? bilihan namin ng Levi’s at Hang Ten nung late 70’s or early 80’s.
Nagkaroon na rin ng Cartimar sa Recto kasi nga maliit yung pwesto sa Pasay. Nung mauso yung Class A fakes na mga Adidas, Nike, Hush Puppies, Tshirts na Lacoste, Arthur Ashe, Fila, wala ng paglagyan ng stocks, nasa kalsada na ang tao, madali silang manakawan ng paninda. Tapus nasunog pa nung 80s ng dalawang beses.
Levi’s maong at Hang Ten Tshirt sabay panyong batik sa laglag-bulsa sa likod habang naka-Glenmore na Earth Shoes? Sabi nga nung mga taga-etivac (Cavite) sa PATTS, “Na, oreg!”
Tongue: by top guns did you mean ang mga kalbo?…wala na silang mga buhok sa kanilang ulo…kaya the top is gone?
may favorite fish dish: ulo kang bantalaan (tuna) with kangkong leaves ang sarap sarap lalo na ang mata ng isda..with bat-wan..
dito minsan sa kainan ng isda ay kinain ko ang mata at sinipsip ang utak ng isda, pero pinagsabihan ako ng kasama kong norwego na barbarian daw ako.kaya ngayon sa bahay na lang ako sumisipsip ng utak ng isda.