The enforcement personnel of the City Environment & Natural Resources Office (DENR-CENRO) Taytay-El Nido, along with the 23rd Marine Company and Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (MDRRMO)-El Nido, apprehended 24 sacks of abandoned fossilized clamshells with an estimated value of P1.2 million at So. Turatod, Bgy. Sibaltan, El Nido, Palawan, last November 26.
Based on a Facebook post by DENR-CENRO Taytay-El Nido yesterday, after receiving an intelligence report corroborated and relayed by the Philippine Navy, their team conducted verification and apprehension and then found the stockpile of approximately 1.5 tons of fossilized clamshells along the shoreline of the aforementioned place.
As of press time, the apprehended items were brought to FPMS IV Sub-station at So. Lamoro, Pasadena, El Nido, Palawan for safekeeping purposes.
Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), all species of Tridacna or giant clams are protected, and the Philippines is one of the signatories to the said treaty. In addition, under the 2001 Fisheries Administrative Order No. 208 of the Philipines, Tridacna is actually one of the forbidden shells in the country.
Meanwhile, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has classified at least one murex species under the “lower risk” and “near threatened” category.