Proceedings of the International Cyanide Detection Testing Workshop

Request for Assistance in the Operation of an Expanded Cyanide
Detection Test (CDT) Laboratories in the Philippines
Gil Adora and Aqualino Alvarez
Philippines Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources
Background
While the misuse of cyanide in live fish
collection started in the Philippines in the
early 1950s, the country was also the fi rst to
implement a comprehensive Cyanide Fishing
Reform Program anchored on the adoption
of the world’s fi rst-ever technology for the
detection of the presence of cyanide in fi sh
tissues and organs.
Between 1995 and 2001, the Philippine
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources,
using funds sourced from a Fisheries Sector
Program loan, set up a nationwide network of
laboratories, acquired the necessary equipment
and chemicals, hired staff, organized mobile
monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS)
teams and set in motion an integrated reformoriented
program dedicated to combating the
cyanide fi shing menace.
During that period, thousands of fi sh were
tested for the presence or absence of cyanide,
several live fi sh shipments were confi scated,
hundreds of fi shermen were arrested, a few
dozens of whom were successfully prosecuted
in court.
The original CDT laboratories were located
in: Metro Manila; Puerto Princesa in Palawan;
Cebu; Davao; Tacloban; and Zamboanga.
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They served two major functions:
First was to respond to request from law
enforcement agencies for evidentiary support
against cyanide fi shing violators.
The second was to satisfy the requirements of
a local law in the Province of Palawan which
required CDT laboratory testing for live fi sh
shipments. In Palawan, the only live fi sh that
could be sold and transshipped were those
that had been certifi ed cyanide-free.
Unfortunately, shortage of funds compelled
BFAR to scale down the operation of the
laboratories. Faced with a budget that had
remained stagnant for years and instructed
by the Department of Agriculture to use
limited resources in production-enhancement
activities, BFAR was compelled to integrate
the functions of the CDT laboratories with the
activities of BFAR’s central offi ce laboratory
whose many responsibilities include red tide
monitoring; chemical, microbiological and
antibiotic residue analyses; fi sh health, and
fi shery product quality control management.
To date, only four of the six laboratories
are functioning. These are the ones located
in Manila, Puerto Princesa, Cebu and
Zamboanga. However, only the laboratory
in Puerto Princesa is operating full-time and
this is largely because the city government is
subsidizing its operation.