This photo taken on September 22, 2023 shows Chinese coast guard personnel aboard their rigid hull inflatable boat beside a floating barrier as they guard a passage to the Chinese-controlled Scarborough Shoal in disputed waters of the South China Sea. Ted Aljibe, AFP.MANILA — Chinese fisherfolk have been using cyanide in Bajo de Masinloc to intentionally destroy the traditional fishing grounds of Filipino fisherfolk, an official from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) said on Saturday.

Parts of the resource-rich lagoon has been destroyed, said Nazario Briguera, chief information officer of the BFAR.

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“‘Yung mga Chinese fishermen ay gumagamit ng cyanide,” he said in a press conference in Quezon City, citing anecdotes from Filipino fishermen in the area.

“These Chinese, they intentionally destroy Bajo de Masinloc to prevent Filipino fishing boats to fish in the area,” he said.

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The BFAR has yet to assess the amount of the damage due to cyanide fishing, but Briguera estimated it to be breach the billion-peso mark.

“This is a serious concern that we need to condemn… Magkakarugtong ang ating karagatan… Umaagos po, may interconnectivity ang currents,” he said.

“Pagka gumamit ka ng lason hindi lang mamatay yung species mo kung hindi mamamatay din yung fish larvae at yung corals,” he said.

There are about 385,300 Filipino fisherfolk who depend on the West Philippine Sea for their livelihood, according to data from BFAR.

These fisherfolk catch around 275,520 metric tons of fish annually, which is between 6 and 7 percent of the Philippines’ entire fisheries sector, data showed.

China’s use of cyanide — especially in an area beyond their exclusive economic zone — is a “clear case of illegal, unreported and undocumented fishing,” the BFAR official said.

Beijing’s latest incursion in Philippine waters is an “attack on humanity,” said Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard’s spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea.

“The destruction of the marine environment is not just an attack to one country’s sovereignty… It is an attack on humanity,” Tarriela said.

“It’s not just the Philippines that will be affected if they will constantly and persistently do this… Ang naaapektuhan dito ay buong mundo,” he said.

The Department of Justice earlier said that it is preparing documents and evidence to file a case against China’s activities that have compromised the marine environment in the West Philippine Sea.

While that case has not yet been filed, the BFAR has allocated P660 million for the purchase of 66 units of 62-footer fishing vessels this year.

“We are now into the direction of capacitating our Filipino fisherfolk with bigger boats,” Briguera said.

“Kung mas maraming supply ang maibaba natin sa mga pamilihan, posible na mas bababa pa ang presyo ng mga isda sa palengke,” he said.

At least 10 of this big fishing boats will be distributed to fishing cooperatives operating in the West Philippine Sea, the BFAR official said.

A separate P80 million is allocated for the purchase and distribution of fishing paraphernalia and post harvest equipment for Filipino fishers.

China has been claiming nearly the entire South China Sea, a resource-rich area where trillion-worth of goods pass through annually.

In 2016, a Hague-based international tribunal invalidated China’s sweeping, and called Beijing’s 9-dash line map as illegal.

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