A new study published in the scientific journal PLOS One revealed that some of the Philippines’s largest coral-reef fish are fast disappearing due to decades of unsustainable fishing.
Based on interviews with 2,655 fishermen, up to 59 “iconic and valuable” species were cited as previously abundant, but are now rare—signifying what the authors described as the “oceanic equivalent to the declining populations of panda bears, elephants and other large endangered terrestrial species.”
Among the species identified were the green humphead parrotfish, humphead wrasse, African pompano, giant grouper and the mangrove red snapper. Their disappearance affects local fishermen’s livelihoods, but more important, throws out of balance delicate coral-reef ecosystems.
To illustrate, Nicholas Polunin, the study’s lead author, explained that the humphead parrotfish selectively eat certain coral types, allowing other coral species to flourish in the same habitat. Groupers and snappers—as major
predators—help regulate the number of smaller fish that would, otherwise, provide too much competition to other smaller fish.
The disappearance of these “elephants of the ocean” is just one example of how our unique diversity—a total of 464 reef-building coral species, nearly one-half of the planet’s coral species—is imperiled by overexploitation, pollution and other unsustainable human activities.
UNDP-Philippines Country Director Titon Mitra wrote in a widely circulated opinion column that, “the country’s marine waters are seen as the epicenter of marine biodiversity on Earth.”
If managed properly and sustainably, according to Director Mitra, our biodiversity can help reduce poverty, preserve traditional lifestyles, create sustainable employment (such as through ecotourism) and provide future sources of our national economic growth. Almost 70 percent of our population is dependent on the environment and natural resources for a living.
A UNDP study shows our marine-coastal resources provide up to $556 million in goods and services. The potential commercial value of genetic and biochemical materials in Philippine forests—or its “net present sustainable bioprospecting value”—is around $36 million each year in perpetuity. Such asset allows us to participate in the global pharmaceutical industry, which earns up to $150 billion a year from sales of medicines and treatments derived from these resources.
Some policies and systems are in place to protect our biodiversity, such as the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, which I authored and sponsored while in the Senate.
But protection and conservation are grossly unfunded. A 2014 study by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit of Germany found that the management of up to 61 protected areas (PAs) rated “poor to fair” with none meeting international standards. The same study found that government spends only P39 per hectare of PA and employs only one person for every 2,300 hectares of PA.
Last December the Biodiversity Management Bureau estimated that government needs to spend up to $7.4 billion (P334 billion) in the next 13 years—or P24 billion annually—to implement the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
The incoming administration can and must devote sufficient resources and singular focus to preserving and conserving our ecological treasure.
E-mail: angara.ed@gmail.com.