The water quality of Manila Bay in its eastern part remains poor, a year after the government launched the rehabilitation drive dubbed as “Battle for Manila Bay,” a group of small fishers on Thursday claimed. After checking his one-hectare mussel and oyster farm situated in the municipal waters of Bacoor, Joel Falcis, a resident fisherman in the said town and a spokesman for the group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA) Cavite chapter, was dismayed that the bamboo poles were covered by the invasive shellfish known to locals as “bahong”, instead of mussels (tahong) and oysters (talaba). Bahong is a different variety of mollusk that outnumbers the traditional shellfish such as mussels and oysters, and is much more difficult to sell due to its low quality, thus considered by many fishermen as pest and invasive.

Casas, W. (2020, January 31). Group notes invasive bay species. Manila Standard, p. A6.