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[av_heading heading=’ EDITORIAL | Coral care’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Sunday, July 2, 2017
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YESTERDAY’S front page photo of this paper showed a diver collecting underwater trash on the corals in the waters of Barangay Cata-an in San Joaquin, Iloilo. The corals looked stunning but some appeared to be dying if not dead already. It was quite disconcerting.
Coral reefs are the food basket for the fish, therefore the destruction of coral reefs would mean less fish population, which would translate to lower fish catch. Underwater garbage pollution is killing corals. If not arrested, it would eventually kill us, too, who depend on the bounties of the seas for our sustenance. We have always espoused for the protection of our forests. But in terms of ecosystems, it looks like we do not give as much attention and resources to our marine ecosystem, most especially our corals.
Another main challenge is coral bleaching. According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the heating of the bottom of the ocean results to coral casualties. The warming of the surface temperature of our water would result to coral bleaching, which in turn leads to destruction of corals and translate to lower fish population. Clearly, our fish catch would be adversely affected.
Do we have a major marine conservation program, particularly on coral restoration, like the National Greening Program (NGP)?
According to DENR, the Philippines has 240 million hectares of marine area based on the 200-mile exclusive economic zone. The country’s land area is only 30 million hectares. Ideally, coral reefs in the 60 million hectares of marine area around the country, the area which is considered possible for fishing including seagrass beds, tidal flats, should be in excellent condition.
The degradation of our marine ecosystems has always been a gut issue as it pushes poverty deeper in the coastal communities through loss of livelihood, vulnerability to natural hazards, hunger and even health problems. The government should immediately address the worsening state of our marine ecosystems by creating a major program for coral restoration just like the NGP.
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