A Cyanide Storm Is Brewing in a Hotly Controversial Sea
The Philippines have accused China of dumping cyanide into the South China Sea, destroying portions a tropical atoll and its coral.
The Scarborough Shoal—also known as Bajo de Masinloc—is at the center of a political dispute from which China won’t back down.
The accusation claims that Chinese fisherman intentionally dumped cyanide to keep Filipino fishing boats away.
A tropical atoll in the South China Sea has become the latest dumping grounds for political disputes. Political disputes and, allegedly, cyanide.
The Philippines’ Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources recently fired off an accusation against China, claiming that Chinese fisherman deliberately dumped cyanide into the ocean waters to keep Filipino fishing boats at bay.
As the political rhetoric levels up, the search for the cyanide source may need to as well. GMA News states that, while the bureau accused Chinese fisherman of the cyanide dump, the Philippine Coast Guard claims that the affront could be coming from a different country’s boats. “We don’t have any scientific study or any evidence that would suggest that cyanide fishing in Bajo de Masinloc can be attributed to the Chinese or the Vietnamese fisherman,” said Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela, according to GMA News. All they know is that they’ve seen the impact of recent cyanide use.
The bureau, though, still lobbed the accusation. “These Chinese fisherman use cyanide,” said the bureau’s spokesperson, Nazario Briguera, according to the Philippine Star. Briguera added that the group is out to “intentionally destroy Bajo de Masinloc to prevent Filipino fishing boats to fish in the area.”
The region falls within the West Philippine Sea, and in 2016, was declared “within the exclusive zone of the Philippines,” according to the Permanent Court of Arbitration set up by the United Nations.
That hasn’t stopped the fighting. In mid-February, China finally removed a floating 984-foot-long barrier to prevent Filipino fishing boats from reaching a part of the atoll. Tucked into the middle of the South China Sea, some experts believe China may try to beef up the area with a manmade island for military purposes.
The act of dumping cyanide is not necessarily a nefarious act. Cyanide fishing is a practice sometimes carried out in the region—including by Filipino fisherman decades in the past—to stun or kill fish and make the day’s work a tad easier.
A potential lack of malice, however, doesn’t mean a lack of harm to the environment. It also doesn’t guarantee the wrongdoers aren’t doing what they’re doing with the purpose of keeping others away.
Briguera claims that the recent cyanide dumping damage could easily rise toward $18 million, and that a destroyed tropical atoll may not fully recover. A location roughly 124 miles from the Philippines has turned into a major fishing ground for the region. The Star reports that an estimated 385,300 people rely on the area for either food or income, thanks to the roughly 300,000 tons of fish caught there annually—approximately 7 percent of the country’s entire fishing industry.
Not only does the teeming aquatic life make for a bountiful location to fill fishing nets (no matter the country of origin of the boat), but the inner lagoon has served as a respite for boats in a subpar weather conditions. There’s currently no reprieve at the Scarborough Shoal.
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