A fish vendor in Daanbantayan Public Market carries a shark while other vendors are doing a transaction on a shark sale for P200 on the side. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Vending sharks is rampant in the northern Cebu town of Daanbantayan.
A resident who requested anonymity noticed juvenile sharks being sold in a public market in Daanbantayan. The nurse, who works in a government agency in Cebu City, took a video of a vendor selling sharks for P200 and another vendor carrying a juvenile shark while making side comments on a sale before placing the creature in a bucket.
The 40 second video also showed two juvenie guitar fish displayed in the tiled fish stall along with a spade fish and blue spotted stingrays and skates as identified by Vince Cinches, Greenpeace Southeast Asian Oceans campaigner.
“I went to the market and saw this so I took the video,” he said. He posted the video and photos to the Facebook wall of a friend who shared it with ocean advocates. Cinches said there was a written warning against the sale of sharks but it was already blotted.
The buyers were locals. Hunting and catching sharks are not covered by any law except some localities who passed an ordinance for the protection of some marine species. Provincial Ordinance No, 2012-05 or the Provincial Fisheries and Aquatic Ordinance of Cebu bans the capture and sale of thresher sharks, mola mola and manta rays.
Related Stories:
Fisherfolk, expert say shark meat ends up as fish balls
BFAR tells Daanbantayan: Stop shark trade
BFAR ‘unaware’ of Talisay shark trade, starts probe
Top Cebu resorts, hotel refuse to serve shark fin soup