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Dec 10, 2023

Bataan fishers say sunken dredger threatens their livelihood

CONTAINMENT Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Station in Bataan

CONTAINMENT Personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Station in Bataan place oil booms and absorbent bags in the waters around the sunken MV Hong Hai 189 dredger in this photo taken on Monday. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PCG

Fishermen in Mariveles, Bataan, have been avoiding the coastal waters where a foreign dredger sank and spilled oil following a collision with a chemical-petrol tanker in the waters off Corregidor Island on April 29.

According to Allan Zelindro, a fisherman and officer of the fisherfolk group Pangisdaan Bataan, their source of livelihood in Barangay Sisiman is threatened by the oil sludge and the submerged vessel.

"We haven't set out to sail near the site of the sunken vessel to catch fish. Many of us use fishing nets and are afraid that these will get entangled in the ship," Zelindro told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Monday said the 140-meter Sierra Leone-flagged MV Hong Hai 189 dredger released between 30 and 50 liters of oil and other mixed liquid. It sank about 365 meters from the Sisiman lighthouse in Mariveles.

Reports from the PCG said a Chinese seaman and a Filipino safety officer of MV Hong Hai died in the collision, while another crew member, whose identity was not immediately disclosed, died at a local hospital. Two others remained missing.

The dredger carried 16 Chinese and four Filipino crew members when it collided with the 183-meter Marshall Island-flagged oil tanker MT Petite Soeur after leaving the port in Botolan town, Zambales province. MT Petite Soeur was not damaged in the collision, the PCG said.

Zelindro said the dredger also wrecked a crab pond before sinking at 5:12 a.m. on May 5.

"The baits for the crabs were underneath the water for a long time, and here came the ship, destroying them just before it sank. The livelihood of our local fisherman was suddenly gone," said Zelindro.

He said they were still discussing ways to recoup their losses and prevent the long-term impact of the sunken dredger, including a looming oil spill, on their main source of livelihood.

Veronica Cabe, organizer of Kilusan Bataan, said the livelihood of fishermen and the condition of marine life in the town were put at risk due to these incidents "without anyone taking responsibility."

On May 6, the PCG helped place oil booms and absorbent bags in the waters around the sunken dredger to prevent the oil from spreading.

Personnel of the PCG Station in Bataan and its local Marine Environmental Protection Unit found no additional traces of an oil spill in the nearby waters.

RELATED STORY:

2 dead, 3 missing in tanker-dredger ship collision

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