WHALES, DOLPHINS REST IN PEACE AT DAGUPAN CEMETERY
DAGUPAN CITY, November 1, 2005 (STAR) By Eva Visperas - Whales, dolphins, turtles and other big sea creatures find their eternal peace in a 500-square-meter lot here.And six years after the first mammal was buried, this graveyard has institutionalized respect for animal species that contribute to the balance of the aquatic environment but are abused by humans.
Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) office in this city who initiated the establishment of the cemetery for sea mammals, made early preparations for this All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
Rosario told The STAR yesterday that BFAR employees spruced up the graveyard and planted katuray plants, whose flowers have a combination of white and violet — colors dominant during All Saints’ Day and at wakes and funerals.
Among those buried at the aquatic cemetery here are seven long-snouted spinner dolphins, two whales, one Risso’s dolphin and a giant sea turtle, Rosario said.
Their individual burial grounds have engravings of their English or common names, scientific names, even their estimated weight, and the date buried.
"Moby Dick," a dwarf sperm whale that beached at the Lingayen Gulf in Lingayen town, Pangasinan last June, measured about 1.75 meters long and belongs to the Kogia simus species. Moby Dick was the latest buried here.
The Kogia simus whale has a pinkish off-white belly, with dark bluish gray back, doesn’t grow bigger than three meters and has a square-shaped head. It moves slower than other cetacean species, and moves across continental shelf to feed.
It was the first time that such kind of whale beached here.
Suffering from gunshot wounds, Moby Dick was treated for about two days before it was supposed to be released back to the sea, Rosario said.
"Although there is already awareness among the people to report incidents of whales or dolphins that beached along the Lingayen Gulf, some who are maybe big-time fishermen who carry guns still hurt this kind of sea mammals," Rosario said.
Rosario segregated about 500 square-meters of circular lot at the BFAR’s 24-hectare area in Barangay Bonuan Binloc, fenced with driftwood and cactus plant, for the fish cemetery.
The idea came about when a 1.2-ton whale was confiscated in Malabon in Metro Manila by the BFAR central office sometime in February 1999. In the absence of a facility to keep the huge dead animal, it was decided to bring the whale to BFAR here for disposal. From then on, that area became a common grave of other large endangered species.
Rosario recalled that three years ago when he attended a biodiversity workshop at Subic Bay in Zambales, the lecturers said that there were no recorded cetaceans in Lingayen Gulf. He showed them some proofs because in fact, as per their documentation, several dolphins have already beached in Dagupan City, San Fabian, Bugallon, Lingayen — all in Pangasinan, as well as in La Union, which is part of the Lingayen Gulf.
Because many dolphins of the Stenella longilostris species beached at the Gulf died, some already butchered even when reported to BFAR, Rosario secluded an area for this special cemetery.
The Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (RA 8550) prohibits the fishing or taking and trade of rare, threatened or endangered species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
"Burying the remains of protected fish species will remind people that selling and eating their meat is a crime and not tolerated by the government," Rosario said.
Because of the putting up of the fish cemetery, people became aware that they need to report to us dolphins, whales and other sea creatures that beached along Lingayen Gulf, Rosario said.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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