Some 1,800 pieces of live hard and soft corals, and three giant clams worth around $54,000 (P2.7 million) were confiscated by the Philippines’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) from a suspected smuggler in August, the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) said, citing news reports.
The hard corals were identified by the National Fisheries Research Development Institute as under the order Scleractinia, while the clams were under the order Tridacna, which is on the list of endangered species of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
The incident was viral online following a Facebook post in July by Romina Lim, who found the “exported” Tubipora and Heliopora corals from the Philippines in a gift shop in Long Beach, Washington.
“Labels say these were ‘rare’ and exported all the way from the Philippines. These corals were extracted from our reefs then sold in the US for less than P2,000 [$37.50]). The same gift shop was selling bottled shark pups for around P800 [$15],” said Lim in her social media account as quoted by ACB in its news release.
“Corals are worth much more alive in coral reefs than dead displayed at your houses,” she added. Lim is a Marine Science student at the University of the Philippines.
The viral social-media post resulted in the collaboration between NBI and US Fish and Wildlife Service to investigate the sources of smuggled corals and other marine products from the Philippines into the US.
“I was deeply saddened and worried at the same time when I heard about this. It is really unfortunate that some people are still not aware of the values of biodiversity; or if they are, then it is even more disappointing to know that they would still trade these natural resources without considering the harmful impacts of this illegal activity to the environment,” said Dr. Theresa Mundita Lim, executive director of the ACB.
Higher fines for environmental offenders
The confiscation of the smuggled marine resources reminded the biodiversity advocates of the need for stronger enforcement of environment laws.
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has been pushing for a stronger enforcement of environmental laws by seeking higher penalties to offenders.
In its consultation-workshops, titled “Ecosystem Resource Valuation in Support to Environmental Law Enforcement,” Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said it is imperative to impose higher fines for the commission of any violation against the country’s environmental laws if the country is to really curb environmental offenses, such as illegal wildlife trade and smuggling, ACB said.
During this year’s Earth Day celebration on April 22, Cimatu reiterated this call and urged the public to “stop tolerating environmental abuse and to instead take part in the strict enforcement of environmental laws and regulations.”
According to the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998, no person or corporation shall “gather, possess, sell or export ordinary precious and semi-precious corals, whether raw or in processed form, except for scientific or research purposes.”
Violation would result in imprisonment from six months to two years and a fine from P2,000 to P20,000. This law was amended through Republic Act 10654, or the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998. It states that no person or corporation shall “gather, possess, commercially transport, sell or export ordinary, semi-precious and precious corals, whether raw or in processed form, except for scientific or research purposes.”
Violation would result in an “administrative fine equivalent to eight times the value of the corals gathered, possessed, commercially transported, sold, or exported, or the amount of P500,000 to P10 million, whichever is higher, and forfeiture of the subject corals.”
Interconnected marine biodiversity in Asean
The Philippines is located at the apex of the Coral Triangle, which, according to the Asian Development Bank, is “one the most diverse marine ecoregions on Earth.”
The Asean region shelters a third of the world’s coastal and marine habitats, including coral reefs, mangroves, estuaries, sandy and rocky beaches, seagrass and seaweed beds and other soft bottom communities.
“These habitats and their resident species provide various forms of ecosystem services. They provide breeding, nursing and feeding grounds for marine plants and animals, food [fish, invertebrates, and seaweeds], and resources important to livelihoods of coastal communities,” said ACB’s Lim.
“There are various estimates of the monetary value of coastal habitats in the region,” said Dr. Sheila Vergara, director of the Biodiversity Information Management unit and the resident marine biologist of the ACB.
“Coral reefs generate and may constitute a significant percentage of national economies, where such habitats occur in large scale and where industries, such as coral reef-related tourism, fisheries, live animal [fish], aquarium and shell-craft industries thrive,” Vergara added.
Coral reef-related tourism relies on water and habitat quality, the type and quality of services offered, and accessibility factors, she noted.
The estimated ecosystem service value for coastal protection and maintenance of fisheries is about $62,400 per square kilometer per year. It is estimated that the total potential sustainable annual economic net benefits per square kilometer of healthy coral reefs in Asean ranges from $23,100 to $270,000 arising from fisheries, shoreline protection, tourism, recreation, and aesthetic values, ACB said in its news release.
Services that remain difficult to quantify include nutrient cycling, buffering storms, climate resilience and carbon sequestration; although tools are now being developed for this purpose.
Overexploitation of coastal and marine resources undermines marine biodiversity health.
“Stricter laws on environmental crimes must be imposed because exploiting marine resources is not a simple offense. It may jeopardize the livelihood source of the millions of people who depend on these resources. By 2050, it is projected that about 500 million people in the Asean region will live near coastal and marine areas,” Lim said.
“If you take resources from within our marine areas, you may as well have taken it from your neighboring countries because of the interconnectivity of our oceans, where larvae of corals, shellfish and other marine resources move and disperse across political boundaries. Thus, there is a need for better cooperation within our region to address issues on trafficking of marine resources and illegal fishing,” Lim explained.
Image credits: Dave Leprozo Jr., ACB Zooming in on Biodiversity 2015 Entry