CEBU CITY, Philippines – 50 kilograms of stingrays, or locally known as pagi, were recovered by inspectors from the Cebu City Department of Veterinary Medicine and Fisheries (DVMF) at the Pasil Fish Market on Wednesday afternoon, February 27, 2019.
Doctor Alice Utlang, Cebu City Veterinarian and chief of DVMF, said the common stingrays were still fresh when officers from DVMF’s Fishery Division conducted a random inspection at the Pasil Fish Market, which is a notorious site for illegal trade of wildlife meat and dishes.
They found the stingrays inside an abandoned styrofoam box. They, however, could not find the owner of the box.
“The stingrays (placed inside a styrofoam box) were still fresh but it was abandoned since nobody in the area is claiming it,” Utlang told Cebu Daily News Digital in a message over Facebook Messenger.
DVMF is now conducting a follow-up operation to find the persons behind the recovered box of stingrays.
She said they believed that the stingrays were taken from the seas around Bantayan Island in northern Cebu.
Utlang said each stingray costs around P100 to P120 per kilo.
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