This morning I received a text from the family of missing fisherman Beto. The Marc-Cris, his boat, was found 70 miles off-shore adrift. Beto, his son Joven and family friend Nonoy have disappeared at sea. Sadly, this is the fate of many a fisherman world-wide, and in fact, the weather and sea have taken other fishermen from nearby towns during the same storm. Nearly all these families are now without their main source of income, meager as it is. Their stories and their lives will be kept alive by the families… I am honored to have been with Beto on his last successful trip.

A small boat was found adrift today outside Olongapo, missing its crew. If it is Beto’s boat is still not known. A helicopter was supposed to be looking into the missing fisherman from Bolinao, far north of where the boat was found. The current possibly rules out the boat as his. Even so, many family and friends are still hoping for the best.View Larger Map
Photographs of my trip with Beto are now posted in the  gallery with more information to follow.

The fishing trip to the deep sea aboard captain Beto’s small banka happened; a much larger story is coming shortly. Today, however, I just learned that Beto and his two man crew, including one of Beto’s sons, is missing at sea.  The seas are again extremely wild, eliminating any possibility for a search by even the Philippines Coast Guard. At the same time, one boat that was out with Beto was destroyed when a large tanker rammed into it. Two fishermen jumped just before the collision while the two remaining survived by holding onto floating pieces of the boat until another boat was able to rescue them. The two who jumped are missing. A total of five missing at sea. We are all holding out hope that they will return.

While the fishing in the Philippines is still a top industry, life for fishermen and their catches is becoming harder. Large commercial vessels from China, Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines are competing for the decreasing number of fish in deeper and more dangerous waters off the northern coast of Luzon in the South China Sea. Throw into the mix the numerous smaller, traditional bankas that carry at most 8 fishermen using line and hooks and one can begin to appreciate the dangers involved with simply trying to eek out an existence for the small scale fishermen; many of whom never return home in the fast changing weather far from shore. 

High winds and wild waves have postponed my journey to the sea for the second day as our small crew decided to delay our 3-5 day trip to the deep sea. We’re all keeping an eye out on the weather and will try again tonight to head out from Bolinao, Pangasinan for what we hope will be a prosperous trip. And a necessary one; they just arrived in port four days ago and already much of the income earned has been spent. Time to turn the boat around see what fortune may bring… Stay tuned for more stories and image of this trip.