{
  "id": 8150845,
  "title": "Filipino fishers count the cost of South China Sea dispute",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/filipino-fishers-count-the-cost-of-south-china-sea-dispute",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-18T02:00:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3367841/filipino-fishers-count-cost-south-china-sea-dispute"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Filipino fishermen are feeling the financial impact of the South China Sea dispute, with dwindling catches and limited access to traditional fishing grounds. Joey Marabe, a fisherman from Zambales province, says that access to Scarborough Shoal has been restricted, reducing weekly earnings from around 15,000 pesos to just 600 to 700 pesos. This decline in income has been accompanied by rising fuel and operational costs, forcing fishermen to venture closer to shore in crowded waters. The Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc, has been under Chinese control since a tense standoff in 2012, despite a Hague-based arbitral tribunal ruling in 2016 that it was a traditional fishing ground for several nations. China rejects the ruling and maintains that its coastguard patrols are legitimate exercises of sovereignty. Filipino crews report being chased, targeted by water cannons, and having their anchor lines cut by Chinese vessels. The challenges are compounded by declining fish stocks, rising fuel prices, temporary no-sail zones, and coastal dredging projects. These factors are causing widespread economic hardship in Zambales fishing communities, with fishermen forced to take greater risks to make ends meet.",
  "summary": "For fishermen like Joey Marabe in the Philippine province of Zambales, the geopolitical contest playing out in the South China Sea can be measured in dwindling catches and shrinking incomes, as the presence of Chinese vessels around a contested shoal increasingly limits where they can work. “It’s a huge drop. Before, a lot of us who could go out to Scarborough Shoal used to bring home around…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}