Hundreds of children in the Philippines are being forced to work
under barbaric conditions doing a type of fishing which destroys coral
reefs.
In a country where child labour is not uncommon, and fishing with
dynamite and cyanide has already taken a heavy toll on the reefs,
human rights groups and environmentalists are campaigning to end the
destructive fishing known as pa -aling.
Children as young as 13 are recruited to be divers, although under
law diving is considered a "hazardous" occupation and only for those
aged 18 or over. For eight hours a day the divers are forced to dive
down 50ft to the reefs, where they scare out the fish using lead-weighted
hoses which belch out compressed air.
Many pa-aling operators fish off Palawan, the island known as the
Philippines' "final frontier" because much of its environment remains
untouched.
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