MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippines blamed Chinese fishermen on Monday for a massive loss of giant clams in a disputed shoal controlled by China’s coast guard in the South China Sea and urged an international inquiry into the amount of environmental damage in the area. The Philippine coast guard presented surveillance photographs of Chinese fishermen harvesting large numbers of giant clams for a number of years in a lagoon at Scarborough Shoal, but said signs of such activities stopped in March 2019. Parts of the surrounding coral appeared to be badly scarred, in what the coast guard said was apparently a futile search by the Chinese for more clams. The lagoon is a prominent fishing area which Filipinos call Bajo de Masinloc and the Chinese calll Huangyan Dao off the northwestern Philippines. “Those were the last remaining giant clams that we saw in Bajo de Masinloc,” Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela said at a news conference. |
China's new factory data evidence of good momentum in its economy: FM spokespersonWorld's highest UHV transmission tower completes constructionXi Meets Antigua and Barbuda's Prime MinisterChina's largest land port handles over 5 mln metric tons of imports and exports in Q1Northeast China launches first crossXi Urges HighInsights丨 Literature works bridge for communications between China and Brazil: Brazilian professorEcuador calls OAS resolution on Mexican embassy raid "fair"The Latest: Iran launches largeProfile: President of Suriname Chandrikapersad Santokhi