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. |
Skye Wheatley hosts reunion with her I'm A Celebrity coStars and DeBoer moving on after ousting Cup champ Vegas in tight 7Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin, the dominant NASCAR Cup Series drivers, could have a blooming rivalryMoyes leaving West Ham at the end of the season. Lopetegui linked as the replacementJames Corden appears in good spirits as he arrives with glamorous wife Julia Carey at the preThey shared a name — but not a future. How two kids fought to escape poverty in BaltimorePamela Anderson goes makeCan I get my private pension at 55 due to this bizarre birth year quirk? STEVE WEBB repliesMillions of people across Oklahoma, southern Kansas at risk of tornadoes and severe thunderstormsPamela Anderson goes make