Environment
Moalboal’s millions-strong
sardine schools sustain
many kinds of animals,
like tuna, dolphins and
even seabirds. To avoid
predators, the tiny fish
form complex, flowing
shapes.
the world’s oceans in vast schools. In Africa, individual sardine
schools are seven kilometers long and nearly two kilometers wide!
Forming the building blocks of the marine food chain, they gorge
on wafting clouds of zooplankton and are in turn eaten by larger
marine predators like mackerel, tuna and sharks. Six major sardine
species are commercially-harvested in the Philippines – and except
for fish geeks, they all look alike (silver fish with beady eyes).
Though small in size, their economic contribution is anything but
tiny. In 2015, the country netted 344,730,201 kilograms of sardines,
amounting to PHP7.43 billion – proving that the industry is one of
the country’s major economic drivers. Thousands of Filipinos are
employed as fishers, traders or factory workers in the canning, fish
drying and bottling sectors, Zamboanga alone employing over
30,000 people.
Though the production trend for sardines seems to be increasing
since the year 2000, some local stocks are showing signs of
overfishing – like smaller sizes for mature fish and dwindling catch
rates for commercial ring-netters. Despite the sheer size of sardine
shoals, they aren’t limitless.
CONSERVING PHILIPPINE SARDINES
Armed with massive nets and tracking gear, commercial fishing
vessels with can make short work of sardine schools – even those
as large as the ones in Moalboal. Without proper management,
they may someday be overfished to the point of extinction.
Impossible?
The story of the Passenger Pigeon – once among Earth’s most
common birds – is ominous. A single, billions-strong flock flying
above Southern Ontario in 1866 was 1.5 kilometers wide and 500
S
ardines: small, cheap, faceless
fish packed in cans. Just how
important are they? Oceana’s
Gregg Yan dives to see them in a
whole new light.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swishing and
swarming around us is an endless
wave of sardines, moving as one
to avoid circling predators like
tuna and mackerel.
I’m with underwater
photographer Danny Ocampo and we’re diving in
Moalboal, known for its ‘sardine run’ – where millions
of sardines aggregate just meters from shore.
Beneath us, hungry mackerel swoop down like
dive-bombers. In an instant, dozens of hapless
sardines are gone. The rest swoosh on and the
bubbling free-for-all continues, floating silver scales
all that’s remaining of the departed.
UNCANNED
When I ask people about sardines, they’re usually
equated with 555, Ligo, or for the more nostalgic
ones, Rose Bowl (some also equated them with the
MRT or LRT). But what do sardines actually look
like? Surprisingly, most people don’t know, for when
they peel open sardine cans, they get faceless fish
swimming in sauce, heads and tails already chopped
off.
Sardines are bullet-shaped fish which cruise
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Gregg Yan is the Director for Communications of Oceana Philippines and a
student of nature.