Joining the call to save “Nemo,” a character in the animated movie Finding Nemo, the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the government can actually save the species from extinction by protecting and conserving the coastal and marine ecosystems.
The animated film about Nemo, the young adventuristic clown fish who got lost, tells a story of the plight of coral species and the various threats to their existence, including harvesting to be sold as aquarium pets.
Expressing concern over the reports that the anemonefish species are about to vanish for good due to climate change, Pamalakaya said the “extinction of a particular fish species is undeniably an issue of concern for those directly involved in the fishing industry.”
“The looming permanent disappearance of clown fish is a manifestation that climate change has been taking its heavy toll to the marine and aquatic environment in general. It means that coral reefs that house numerous fish species are gradually vanishing, seas and oceans have been fast-warming hurting the marine life,” Pamalakaya National Chairman Fernando Hicap said in a statement.
Hicap, also a former Anakpawis Party-list solon, added that the clown fish, although not the usual fish-catch of small fisherfolk, are vital marine organisms as they serve as an ecosystems indicator.
Jerwin Baure, a member of scientist group Agham and Pamalakaya’s resident fisheries expert agrees, adding that a thriving clown fish in an area equates to prosperous coral reefs, seagrasses, and most of all, abundant fish catch.
“This species belongs to a wide array of marine symbioses where every marine organisms benefit from each other to survive,” Baure said.
Baure, a fisheries graduate from the University of the Philippines-Visayas, added that the protection of clown fish against the impacts of climate change is a preservation of the entire marine ecosystem.
Pamalakaya blames “projects for development aggression” as the “real culprit” of global warming as the conversion of coastal and marine areas into business and commercial purposes triggers the destruction of mangrove forests, coral reefs, seagrasses and other fish habitat.
“The most effective way to mitigate and, ultimately, quell the adverse impacts of climate change is to put an end to profit-driven government and corporate projects that systematically destroy the marine and aquatic environment. We demand justice for the sectors, including coastal people, who are at the frontline casualties of the environmental devastation brought about by climate change,” Hicap said.