THEY COME IN FISH The busy Navotas Fishport where fish is traded in whispers or 'bulungan.' Thousands of tons of fish come in at night from straining fishing grounds around the archipelago (Cez Jarlyn Young of Parallax Studio)

Living in a bungalow in Makati and often spending days when outside in traffic, it is very easy to forget just how close we are to the sea. When I was a newly minted married woman, my husband and I started our family in a condominium and every day, I got to see Manila Bay… and it was lovely. I could watch the waters shimmer under the sun as boats passed by and witness the beautiful sunset on the horizon. Having seen the sun’s descent to end each day in full glory, I could agree with my elders when, growing up, they would tell me there was nothing more beautiful than the sun setting on Manila Bay.

Working as a project editor on a book on the history of the Philippines from early times to the late 20th century, I have come across so many historic moments involving the bay, well, in so far as written history is concerned—the Spanish arriving in Manila in 1570; the Battle of Manila ridding the Philippines of its Spanish colonizers by its replacement, the Americans; the failed American defense of Manila leading to the Japanese Occupation; its reclamation; and recently the controversial creation of Dolomite Beach. I must say, I was very skeptical about this man-made beach having heard from academics and environmental groups against it at the time of construction, but having visited and spent some time on the beach one Sunday morning, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

FISH BE WITH YOU Vats full filled with commercially caught fish. The Supreme Court is now deliberating on whether fitting fishing vessels with satellite monitoring devices (to monitor where the fishermen are fishing and just how much fish are caught) is constitutional

What hits you first is how quiet everyone was. The noise could be described as muted. Then you notice how clean the beach was and how it did not stink. I used to run the length of the Baywalk along Roxas Boulevard on Sundays, when a long stretch of it was closed to morning joggers, walkers, and cyclists. Even from Roxas Boulevard one will not fail to be assaulted by the smell coming from the bay, but not so today at the Dolomite Beach. People peacefully sat facing the sea, watching the sky light up, as the sun slowly rose from the east, illuminating the still lit cranes of the nearby ports and ships anchored at sea. So, this is what my cousin Senator Imee R. Marcos meant when she explained to me that for a very urbanized metropolis with hardly any room to grow (there is no more room to expand since there is no more land) it is important for the LGU to work to improve the quality life of the people who live in it. Having this for you to come to in the morning (or at any time of the day for that matter), to be close to the sea, and be able to sit peacefully with your thoughts may be palliative but, in some cases, it will have to do especially when the problem of a lack in urban planning may take decades to unravel, if at all.

GIFTS FROM THE SEA Seaweed in abundance and other bounty from the sea at the Navotas Market

Sitting on Dolomite Beach under the shade provided by the high rises along Roxas Boulevard behind me, I gaze unfocused upon the sea as I gathered my thoughts on my recent experience at what is touted to be the largest fishport in Southeast Asia and the third largest in Asia, the Navotas Fishport. Navotas was once a small fishing barrio and during the American colonial period it officially separated from Malabon and was declared a municipality on Jan. 16, 1906. To this day fishing and other work related to the fishing industry comprises 70 percent of the residents’ livelihoods.

I wanted to write about the Navotas Fishport now under the Navotas Fishport Complex (NFCP) in Manila and witness how fish was traded from sea to the merchants. I wanted to see the “bulungan” at the Navotas Fish Complex. Apparently, bids are made in whispers—which I found intriguing. So, before sunrise, I found myself at the NFCP. Unfortunately, I was told the “bulungan” is done in the evenings and ends by midnight. Knowing I may not even know when a “bulungan” was occurring even if I was standing in front of the people involved, I opted to just take some photos instead later that night. I was informed boatloads of fish are brought in from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. I was still enthusiastic to take photos of the process of how we get our fish not only in the metropolis but to areas like Ilocos Norte and Bicol. I came back and it didn’t go the way I planned. Even before I was able to take my first photo, security stopped me.

MOVING PRECIOUS CARGO Trucks being loaded to take fish all over Luzon to Ilocos in the North and Bicol to the south

They asked me what my business was and I said that I was just taking photos for a lifestyle article I was writing for Manila Bulletin. I was then told to go to the manager and had, at one point three security guards (who were very nice yet intimidating) stand to guard me until matters were clarified.

To make it short, after being able to allay fears and assure them that I was not there (as they kept saying) to film a documentary and interview people and instead was there to take images to accompany my lifestyle article on the historic Navotas Fishport, I was sent my merry way. But it did plant a seed. I was taught by my savvy relatives who are more adept at politics than I will ever be to always ask “the whys” behind people’s actions. And now I started asking myself, “Why the fuss? So much grief and tension just for fish? And in my case, photos of fish.” I declared to myself, “It’s just fish?!” But is it?

SHELL BY THE SACKFUL Tahong by the sackfull arrive at night and sold to the public

So, I began to dig. The Philippines is said to be “one of the top wild fish producing countries in the world, despite a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource (BFAR) revelation that “75 percent of the country’s fishing sites are overfished.”

In 2015, the government instituted measures to prevent overfishing and “illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.”

With the amended Philippine Fisheries Code all vessels were required to “adopt vessel monitoring technologies.” This move, however, is now being reviewed by the Supreme Court to ensure the monitoring of fishing operators using satellite transponders (to ensure they fish where they are supposed to fish and catch the legal number/amount of fish) is constitutional. If only we can do the same for illegal foreign fishing operators too.

SOURCE OF LIFE Sunrise on Tullihan River in Navotas. It is fed by the La Mesa Dam in Quezon City

Then you have the issue of Chinese fishermen who drive away Filipino fishing vessels. The Filipino fishermen’s ability to catch fish has gone down and the threat is real coming from larger Chinese fishing vessels. Add to that, since the war in Russia and Ukraine, increase in fuel prices has affected operational costs for commercial fishing operators, some of whom according to reports have had to cut down on operations. And this leads to a growing dependence on fish imports. The irony is that we import about 300,000 tons of seafood and mostly from China—fish probably caught in our territorial waters. But these are issues facing the commercial fishing sector.

We can still fall back on other forms of fishing—municipal fishing (involving smaller fishing vessels), capture and aquaculture, finfish like bangus and tilapia, mollusks, shrimp, crabs, and other crustaceans)—which I didn’t mind until, in this rabbit hole I found myself researching about Philippine fisheries, I came across a vlogger who specializes on fish ports and markets along the Bulakan coastline. In one episode, he stopped to ask for directions and chanced upon a warehouse with men shoveling what people would normally think as filling material from a construction site. It turned out, the whole warehouse was filled with chicken manure, soon to be delivered to fish pens all across the coastline and estuaries. Apparently chicken manure is used to fatten up our seafood.