COOLWATERWORKS

She digs seashells in the Buagsong seashore.
The shells she then sells on a per kilogram toll
To fancy shell shop owners beyond Camolinas’ doors.
So if she digs shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she would need many seashore shells to earn more.

—

Buagsong is a fishing community in the island of Cordova in Cebu. Cordova is very close to the island of Mactan, so close that most people still think it to be part of Mactan. Cordova is known for its eel delicacies. The shores of Buagsong is one of the primary sources of eels (locally known as bakasi) in the island.

For the past few weekends, I have been a frequent visitor to the shores of Buagsong. I wanted to observe how the traps for the eels are laid, how the eels are gathered and how they are cooked. Furthermore, sunsets in Buagsong are always fiery. But these past weekends, the weather has not been cooperating well, and the sky was almost always obscured by clouds.

What intrigued me most in Buagsong is that during low tides there seems to be a visible “sandbar” and I always see people walking their way towards it in knee-deep water. 

And so instead of focusing only on the eels, I decided that I needed to see that area too. And so, one Saturday when the low tide forecast was around 5:00PM, I decided to visit Buagsong one more time…

When I started wading to the “sandbar”, a boatman warned me there are deep depressions in the sand in the area and that I need to walk slowly and to gauge my every step. After several minutes, I took a picture using my 300mm lens.

After taking the shot, I took a step forward and it was too late to back off. I fell into a depression! Lucky for me, the depression immersed me in waist-deep water. My bag containing my camera and lenses was successfully lifted before the plunge. Dripping wet, I still pressed on.

The boatman that warned me (named Rico Casquejo), curious of what I was trying to do, followed suit. And I had a ride in his wooden banca. I then asked him to bring me to the “sandbar”.

As we got nearer and nearer, I realized that there was no sandbar after all. I was looking at mounds-many mounds. The mounds were actually made of dug-up shells.

I approached the people working there. I introduced myself and told them of my curiosity. Slowly, one woman, named Susan Balongcas warmed up to me and we chatted for several minutes. She eventually allowed me to take a picture. However, I did not have the courage to ask her to face the camera.

I learned that they were actually digging shells to sell to souvenir shop owners. They are sorting these shells and they have preference to small, white univalve mollusks locally called as “kyo-os”. The merchants that buy them nicknamed these shells as “bubbles”. They are sold for PhP 20.00 (US$ 0.43)/kilogram. In a day, they would be able to collect around 5 kilograms of these shells. When demands are high, these would cost up to PhP 35.00/kilogram.

When we left, Rico told me that Susan and her fellow diggers are actually not from Buagsong. They live in another area in Cordova called Camolinas. The buyers of these shells would come to Camolinas in cars and do the bargaining. He said that there were several complaints from the fishermen of Buagsong regarding the diggings.

The eels in the area live in small holes underneath the sand. The diggings destroy the eels’ habitat. Disappearance of these eels would greatly impact the livelihood of the Buagsong fishermen. Rico pointed out that the officers of Buagsong responded to the complaints by placing a demarcation – lines of mangrove seedlings. Diggers are not allowed to cross or go beyond the mangroves.

Thinking through this adventure, I realized that the two local livelihoods are clashing: one at the expense of another. Poverty complicates this issue. Digging for shells is detrimental to the eels’ habitat as well as to the livelihood of the fishermen. However, digging and selling these shells are also the livelihood of another group of impoverished people.

This is a basic issue that needs to be addressed.

(Note: I still haven’t seen live bakasi freshly caught from this shore.”