DAVAO CITY — Personnel from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource (BFAR )regiona IX confiscated 14.4 kilograms of dried shark fins worth more than Php 100,000 at the Zamboanga airport on December 22, 2022.
In a Facebook post on January 3, 2023, the BFAR IX stated that personnel from the Regional Fisheries Inspection and Quarantine Unit (RFIQU) of the BFAR discovered the shark fins which was contained in two (2) sacks during a random inspection.
BFAR Quarantine Officer, Remelyn Atilano together with Mr. Richard Orquijo, fishery enforcer from the LGU found the products.
The shark fins are used to serve shark fin soup in posh restaurants.
Ancient history revealed, that a shark fin soup a delicacy, was only served for exclusively for the Chinese emperors and nobility.
The cartilage from the fin is carefully dried and prepared, and used as an ingredient in a soup flavored with seafood or chicken broth and herbs.
The shark fins were then brought to the BFAR IX Regional Office for proper identification.
Charlie Repana of the Fisheries Protection and Law Enforcement Group and Atilano verified that the seized fishery items were those of Rhyncobatus spp. (Wedgefish) and Carcharinus falciformis (Silky Shark), species that are prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Section 102 (b) of the Amended Philippine Fisheries Code stipulates that “It shall be unlawful to fish, take, catch, gather, sell, purchase, possess, transport, export, forward or ship out aquatic species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of wild fauna and flora Appendices II and III.”
The agency issued a Notice of Violation to the unnamed owner of the goods.-Editha Z. Caduaya
