Fish farmers in Taytay, Palawan, are working double-time in expanding their production of grouper, or lapu-lapu, in 2,000 fish offshore cages that host 161 species of the highly-prized reef fish. These cages are perhaps the biggest producers of grouper for the live reef food fish trade (LRFFT), a multibillion dollar business that would surely be affected by the reclamation projects of China and other countries claiming chunks of the group of reefs, atolls, sandbars and islets known as the Spratlys. What began in the 1980s as an experiment in Samar now employs over 100,000 people in Palawan alone, according to World Wide Fund for NaturePhilippines (WWF-Philippines) communications manager Gregg Yan.

De Vera, E. B, & Chavez, C. A. (2015, May 16). Alarm raised over 'lapu-lapu' decline. Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. 8.