Remembering the dead at the Fish Cemetery
RESPECT FOR THE ENDANGERED
DAGUPAN CITY—As the Christian world prepares to remember their dead, the personnel of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Barangay Bonuan Binloc have started to spruce up a sprawling compound where some 18 dolphins and other endangered species are buried.
The Fish Cemetery, established in 1999, is not visited annually by surviving dolphins and other mammals but by curious tourists every All Souls Day.
Aside from dolphins, there were other big sea creatures like whales and giant sea turtles that found their heaven and buried here. The heaviest of them all was a three-ton Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) collected in Manila Bay on Dec. 31, 2008.
Of the dolphins however, the weightiest of them was a 500-kilogram Rissos dolphin (Grampus griseus) collected at the coastal area in Barangay Tiblong, San Fabian town on July 18, 2000.
The smallest was a Spinner dolphin (Stenella longilostris) that weighed two kilograms found last March 8, 2000 in the coastal area in Barangay Sabangan this city.
First to be laid in this fish cemetery was a giant sperm whale, named Moby Dick after the popular book character, collected in Malabon City, Metro Manila in February 1999. It measured 320 centimeters and weighed 1.2 tons.
Aside from Moby Dick, a dwarf sperm whale (Kogia simus) found in Pangapisan, Lingayen, on May 8, 2005, a 1.8 meter long, was also buried here.
Also, a whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) found in Manila Bay on Oct. 29, 2009 that was 17 feet long and weighed two tons were also laid to rest here.
Two turtles are buried here too. A giant sea turtle “Red Tape” (Dermochelys coriacea) collected in Bugallon town in November 2002 that measured 84 centimeters and a green sea turtle (Chelona mydas) in Nibaliw, San Fabian, Pangasinan collected on Sept. 23, 2012 and weighed about 70 kilograms.
Each of these special sea creatures has a tombstone with that list their circumstances.
Dr. Westly Rosario, BFAR center chief here and brainchild of this Fish Cemetery, said the idea came about when a 1.2 ton whale was abandoned by an owner in Malabon, Metro Manila in February 1999.
In the absence of a facility to dispose the huge dead animal, the whale was brought to BFAR-National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) here for disposal.
BFAR was unable to determine the species of the whale because it was transported and buried at dawn, so the whale was named “Moby Dick”. From a simple grave for Moby Dick, the area has since become a common grave, Fish Cemetery, for other large endangered species, collected by BFAR-NIFTDC or brought to it by concerned citizens, local government units and fishermen.
He said that the cemetery seeks to institutionalize human respect for animal species that contribute to the balance of aquatic environment but abused by humans.—Eva Visperas.
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