DATU BLAH SINSUAT, Maguindanao – Nords Sabiwang, a fisherman living in the coastal village of Matuber here and other fisher folks, had been trying to improve their catch when he noticed a huge group of fish few meters from the shoreline.
It was Friday morning in Barangay Matuber when suddenly a huge army of tulingan (skipjack tuna) showed up at the coast at 6 o’clock in the morning.
Sabiwang, 40, and his co-fisherman, Santero Upahm, called on the villagers to help capture the tuna which they later considered as “blessing from Allah during the Ramdahan (fasting month).
“We were surprised…this is the first time in Matuber that a huge number of ‘tulingan’ came ashore,” Jan de Leon, a resident said of the “tulingan” that swam ashore.
People were celebrating, some were applauding as fishermen surround the group of “tulingan” about 10 meters from the shoreline. Sabiwang said this was very unusual. “We could hardly catch them because they are deep-sea kind of fish we can only get in high seas,” he said in the vernacular.“We hope it will come regularly,” he added.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources officials in Maguindanao said the phenomenon was unusual but when “tulingan” swim near the shoreline they find enough food in the area which they could not get on high seas.- Edwin Fernandez
