Samar Fish Market

[dutchpickle]

I took this video of the fish market in Catbalogan last week. Took a while to load with my slow connection but it's interesting.

Very few scuba divers in Samar, with the exception of Ralph and the Badger in the north.

I hate to see the 3 inch lapu lapu and the small sharks for sale but conservation has not yet caught on.

Catbalogan fish market
YouTube - Catbalogan fish market

 

[greatwolf]

I don't think fishermen would hesitate killing smaller fish if it means putting food on the table.

 

[clgsamson]

Lapu lapu? great sweet and sour dish....

 

[chip104]

hey cool, how's diving in Samar? Where did you dive?

 

[dutchpickle]

chip104 - I don't think that there are any dive shops in Samar.

Pete, on the east side (Borongan) does a little, but his thing is surfing. He has to drive down to Tacloban in Leyte to get his tanks filled. I am guessing a 5 hour round trip.

Joni of Trexplore has taken out a few divers to explore some caves in Samar but the logistics are complicated.

A couple of guys get out on occasion on the northern end.

I never dove in Samar yet, but I did see the quite rare blind fish in Calbiga cave last year.

It is possible that Samar is the least developed island in the Philippines and it might be a new frontier for divers. Who knows...

 

[drbill]

For someone from other waters it is always interesting to see the local fish harvested from other waters. I remember when I was in Australia and saw an ad in a magazine, I believe for Nikon cameras. It showed a rod-and-reel fisherman with a parrotfish (if I remember correctly). Since we have no parrotfish in my waters it was at first sad to see one caught until I realized it was a reasonably common local fish there. After all, fishers here catch all sorts of our finned friends.

 

[dutchpickle]

dr Bill,
thanks as well
I am fascinated with marine life in all waters and kind of groove on what the fishermen come up with at times in that market. Some times there are piles of lionfish....sometimes puffers...always parrot fish..on some islands they use charred seahorses as medicine..it is very interesting to me

as clgsamson points out - lapu lapu are delicious! it might not be a bad idea to let the really small ones grow and harvest them when they are bigger however, sustainable fisheries are all about management and fishermen's perception of what is right

for example when the fishermen really believe that dynamite fishing is not in their interest or good for their children's future they might collectively disband the practice