A fisheries official said Thursday that a government plan to import galunggong (round scad) could be a case of the country buying back its own fish. “What we will import could come from us too, since the [fish] may have escaped [Philippine waters] and migrated [outside them],” said Eduardo Gongona, director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Other countries do not eat galunggong, he noted. While Filipino fishermen have limited equipment to catch all the fish on the edges of Philippine waters, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Chinese and Thai fishermen are just there waiting for the catch, he said.

Cruz, M. & Araja, R. (2018, August 24). OMGG! PH seen buying back its own fish catch. Manila Standard, p. A2.