A massive seizure of 200 tons of giant illegally harvested shells in the Philippines has highlighted the growth of an illicit trade that has proliferated due to the crackdown on the sale of elephant tusks.
Authorities in the country, home to the world’s giant tropical shellfish species, have said shells worth about 1.2 billion pesos ($ 25 million) have been found in the pipeline in the western province of Palawan on the remote green island. from the Sulu Sea, local news reported the Rappler press.
Four suspects were arrested, and the confiscation included tridacna gigas, the largest species of shellfish in the world.
Commodore Commander Palawan District of the Philippines (PCG) Commander Genito Basilio said the raid, which took place on Friday, was the largest ever in Palawan, according to Rappler.
This easily surpassed the previous record for a seizure in the province – a poaching hotspot – of 80 tons, worth about $ 3.3 million, which was discovered in a raid on nearby Johnson Island last month .
Jovic Fabello, a spokesman for the province’s council for sustainable development, described the removal of giant shells from their natural habitat as “a form of intergenerational crime.”
“These people are digging up giant shells and killing them,” Fabello said, adding that such actions “will permanently affect the marine ecosystem and future generations will be deprived of the benefits that flow from it,” Agence France Presse reported.
Most of the world’s giant tropical shellfish species are found in the Philippines. Huge shells, known locally as oyster, can grow more than three feet and can weigh up to 600 pounds.
Shells are considered essential to the local marine ecosystem because they host algae that are a crucial source of food for many of the fish species that humans consume.
But conservatives have sounded the alarm over rising demand for creatures due to increased ivory shortages following a crackdown on global elephant tusks. Shell shells are popular for their meat and are also used as an alternative to ivory for a wide range of products, such as earrings and chandeliers.
The punishment in the Philippines for killing an endangered species can be a fine of up to one million pesos ($ 20,000) and a 12-year prison sentence, the BBC reported.
In 2019, the Philippines protested against the harvesting of huge shells by Chinese ships in the Western Philippine Sea, Rappler reported.
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