Fishing ban around ferry wreckage lifted

By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 15:32:00 10/14/2008
INQUIRER.net

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has lifted the five-kilometer-radius fishing ban it imposed around the sunken MV Princess of the Stars off Sibuyan Island in Romblon after tests detected no chemical residue in the waters.

Water samples were taken and analyzed by the National Pesticide Analytical Laboratory after the last drum of the highly toxic pesticide endosulfan was removed from the wreckage.

A total of 402 containers of endosulfan have been recovered from the sunken vessel.

"No contamination of the toxic chemical was found," said Juvy Barillo, hazard inspector of BFAR-Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) in phone interview.

In an advisory released Monday, BFAR chief Malcom Sarmiento Jr. declared fish at the wreckage site and around the rest of Sibuyan Island safe for human consumption.

San Fernando Mayor Nanette Tansingco earlier said fishing outside the five-kilometer fishing ban radius entailed great fuel costs for the Sibuyan residents.

For months, she said, people would not buy marine products from Sibuyan, fearing these were contaminated.

Engineer Rey de Juan, deputized civil defense coordinator in Romblon, said retrieval of bunker oil from the sunken vessel is ongoing while the retrieval of bodies will start next week.

The Princess of the Stars, owned by Sulpicio Lines Inc., capsized and sank off Sibuyan Island in Romblon on June 21 when the ferry sailed into the path of typhoon "Frank" with more than 800 passengers and crew.