MASINLOC, Philippines — May 22, 2013 — Along the northwestern Philippine coast, poor children with claw hammers clamber aboard an abandoned fishing vessel to pry loose and steal rusty nails from its deck. It’s become a familiar sight in villages where some fishermen have been forced to give up their livelihoods since China took control of their fishing haven last year.
Fishermen say Chinese maritime surveillance ships have shooed them from Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and roped off the entrance to the vast lagoon that had been their fishing paradise for decades. Now, they say, they can’t even count on the Chinese to give them shelter there from a potentially deadly storm.
Some have paddled back in canoes to sneak into the lagoon — teeming with pricey yellowfin and skipjack tuna, red grouper, blue marlin and lobster — while their mother boats hide from a distance.
But other Filipino fishermen in the northwestern towns of Masinloc and Infanta have sold their boats, or simply abandoned them on the coast, and turned to other work, including raising pigs in their backyards.
Fish trader Joey Legazpi has sold most of his 12 outrigger boats, which largely depended on Scarborough’s pristine fishing waters, and opened a small food store in Infanta, in Pangasinan province.
‘‘It’s gone,’’ Legazpi said, noting that the Philippines’ ill-equipped forces are no match for China’s mammoth military. ‘‘We've lost hope we can get Scarborough back.’’
Large swarms of fishing fleets are getting entangled in an expanding labyrinth of Asian territorial conflicts. The stakes are rising as China and other rival claimants in the South China Sea pour more air, naval and paramilitary forces into the area, increasing the risk of confrontations.
Read the full story by the Associated Press at The Boston Globe