The Philippines on Thursday criticized China for its reclamation activities in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), which has posed a significant threat to the marine environment.
Deputy Presidential Spokesman Abigail Valte said Prof. Kent Carpenter assessed the damage of China’s island-building activities to the coral reef ecosystem as “close to catastrophic.”
“Carpenter drew the conclusion that China’s actions have caused grave harm to the environment in the South China Sea due to its artificial island-building activities, and that the damage to the complex coral reef ecosystem is close to catastrophic,” Valte said in a bulletin issued from The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday.
Carpenter was one of two expert witnesses presented by the Philippines to the arbitral tribunal on the third day of the hearings on the Philippines’s case against China.
Carpenter is a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences at the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
The other expert witness was Clive Schofield, current director of Research and Security at the University of Wollongong in Australia.
The Philippines’s principal counsel, Paul Reichler, described Carpenter and Schofield as independent experts who were presented to give their own analyses based on their areas of specialization.
Valte said Schofield presented his findings on 47 features requested by the tribunal to be studied to determine whether they are insular, low-tide, or high-tide elevations. The Australian expert also presented Landsat images of the Scarborough Shoal at high tide and low tide.
During the same hearing, Valte said Prof. Alan Boyle presented to the tribunal the damage China has done to the marine ecosystem, more specifically, to the complex ecosystem of coral reefs, biological diversity and living resources in the South China Sea.
“Boyle stated that, if unchecked, China’s activities will continue to pose a significant threat to the marine environment of the South China Sea and of all the states which border the sea,” the Palace official said.
She added that Boyle argued that China has violated its obligation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to protect and preserve the marine environment.
He cited instances of harmful fishing practices, such as blast fishing, cyanide fishing, harvesting of giant clams, catching of turtles and other endangered species.
Valte said Boyle also stressed that China, as a flag state, is responsible for its failure to prevent its fishermen and vessels from engaging in illegal fishing activities.
She said Boyle detailed to the tribunal the series of near-collisions that occurred in April and May 2012, at the Scarborough Shoal involving Chinese Marine Service vessels and Philippine vessels.
“These incidents, according to Boyle, displayed China’s ‘deliberate disregard for international law’ on the safety of maritime vessels,” Valte said.
She said Professor Bernard Oxman meanwhile presented to the Tribunal other actions by China that aggravated and extended the dispute, even pending arbitration.
“Oxman cited instances where the Philippines was blocked by China from entering Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin) for a resupply mission,” said Valte.
“Oxman stressed that China’s denial of access forms part of ‘a deliberate policy to physically expel the Philippines and its nationals’ from the disputed features and its surrounding waters,” she further said.
Thursday’s hearing marked the end of the First Round of Arguments for the Hearing on the Merits. The Second Round will begin on November 30.
2 comments
Haha! Carpenter guy from Norfolk is independent!?
Probably a USN guy more likely.
Nice touch by RP to get very favorable opinion.
Go pa more!
What is your competency on marine biology, Mr Liam ?
Dr. Kent E. Carpenter is a professor of biological sciences at Old Dominion University,[1] in Norfolk, Virginia, who is notable for having two fish species named in his honor, Paracheilinus carpenteri Randall and Lubbock 1981,[2] popularly known as “Carpenter’s flasher wrasse”, and Meganthias carpenteri Anderson 2006,[3] popularly known as Carpenter’s Yellowtop Jewelfish.[4]
Dr. Carpenter earned his Bachelor of Science degree in marine biology at Florida Institute of Technology and his Doctor of Philosophydegree in zoology at the University of Hawaii. His research emphasis is in the systematics and evolution of marine fishes. His work in marine biogeography for the Indian Ocean and west Pacific Ocean has led to work in marine conservation and comparativephylogeography using population genetics, with a special interest in the Philippines.
He is also a long-term collaborator with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Species Identification and Data Programme for Fisheries, producing identification guides for regions such as the western Pacific and the western and eastern AtlanticOceans. He has done fieldwork in the Caribbean, West Africa, and the Philippines. In addition to research and teaching responsibilities, he is also the coordinator for the IUCN Global Marine Species Assessment, completing the first global review of everymarine vertebrate species, and of selected marine invertebrates and marine plants, to determine conservation status and possibleextinction risk for about 20,000 marine species.
Now I want to see your academic resume, Mr Liam.