By Henrylito D. Tacio
Photos by Darrell Blatchley
“Many local, coastal communities do not understand or know what a coral reef actually is, how its ecosystem interacts with them, and why it is so important for their villages to preserve and conserve it.” — Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence
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Darrell Blatchley was still sleepy but he had to wake up early. The reason: he had to dive the waters near the Pearl Farm Beach Resort where had stayed for the night. He was excited; after all, he had been raring to see what others had been telling him.
“If you ever get the chance to dive, do it here; you will see what the best of the Davao Gulf has to offer,” says Blatchley, an American who has been living in Davao City almost half of his life. “Fishing is strictly prohibited so the fish are plentiful and big. The fish are not afraid of you so they come in close as if they want to say hi!”
Among those that he saw while diving were the parrotfish, triggerfish, barracuda, and the poisonous but impressive lion fish.
According to Carlos R. Munda, Jr., a diving enthusiast and instructor, the Island Garden City of Samal is “strategically located in one of the most dive-friendly locations in the world.” Although it is relatively unknown outside a small circle of diving enthusiasts, the waters surrounding the island “is a treasure trove of dive sites for every kind of underwater adventure.”
While the Samal reef gardens display colorful underwater vistas with its treasure of tropical marine life, some of the corals are not in good shape.
A survey conducted in 1991-1992 by the Regional Fishermen’s Training Center in Panabo City at Sarangani Bay and Davao Gulf had shown that most of the shallow or inshore coral reefs “were totally damaged because they are exposed to greater pressure.”
But destruction of coral reefs is rampant not only in Davao Gulf but in other parts of the country as well. In the late 1970s, the East-West Center in Hawaii sounded the alarm. At that time, the study disclosed that more than half of the reefs were “in advanced state of destruction.” Only about 25% of live coral cover were in “good condition,” while only 5% were in “excellent condition.”
Nothing much have changed since then. In fact, 30% of the country’s coral reefs are reportedly dead while 39% are dying. Reef Check, an international organization assessing the health of reefs in 82 countries, identified the coral reefs which are in “excellent condition” are the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park in Palawan, Apo Island in Negros Oriental, Apo Reef in Puerto Galera, Mindoro, and Verde Island Passage off Batangas.
“Nowhere else in the world are coral reefs abused as much as the reefs in the Philippines,” commented Don E. McAllister, who once studied the cost of coral reef destruction in the country.
Most of the coral reefs are found in the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn — in the Caribbean, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and South Pacific. They also thrive where warm currents are found — off Florida, Bermuda, southern Japan and Australia.
The richest reefs, however, are located in the so-called “coral triangle,” which spans eastern Indonesia, parts of Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands. Covering an area that is equivalent to half of the entire United States, it is considered “the epicenter for marine biodiversity.”
About 600 of the 700 or so corals known to man have been this discovered in this region touted to be as “the Amazon of the Sea.” In the Philippines alone, more than 400 coral reefs are found.
There are three types of coral reefs, according to Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III, the former head of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development. These are the fringing (found on the edges of islands), the barrier (best exemplified by the Dajanon Reef of Central Visayas), and the atoll (of which Tubbataha and Cagayan Reefs in the Sulu Sea are examples).
Because of their structure, coral reefs serve as shelter to fishes and shellfishes. A single reef can support as many as 3,000 species of marine life. As fishing grounds, they are thought to be 10 to 100 times as productive per unit area as the open sea.
About 80-90 per cent of the incomes of small island communities come from fisheries. “Coral reef fish yields range from 20 to 25 metric tons per square kilometer per year for healthy reefs,” said Dr. Angel C. Alcala, former environment secretary.
Despite their economic importance, coral reefs in the Philippines are on the brink of extinction.
The World Atlas of Coral Reefs, compiled by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), reported that 97% of reefs in the Philippines are under threat from destructive fishing techniques, including cyanide poisoning, over-fishing, or from deforestation and urbanization that result in harmful sediment spilling into the sea.
But the Filipinos themselves are the primary culprit. “Life in the Philippines is never far from the sea,” wrote Joan Castro and Leona D’Agnes in a report. “Every Filipino lives within 45 miles of the coast, and every day, more than 4,500 new residents are born.”
The Philippines is now home to more than 100 million people. “Human activities are the major cause of coral reef degradation,” said a document that was released during the International Coral Reef Initiative held in Dumaguete City.
Dr. Edgardo D. Gomez, one of the country’s most noted marine scientists, agrees. “If asked what the major problem of coral reefs is, my reply would be: ‘The pressure of human populations.’”
A visit to any fishing villages near a reef will quickly confirm this. “There are just too many fishermen,” Dr. Gomez pointed out. “They overfish the reefs, and even if they use nondestructive fishing gear, they still stress the coral reef ecosystem.”
Dr. Robert Ginsburg, a specialist on coral reefs working with the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami, also said human beings have a lot to do with the rapid destruction of reefs. “In areas where people are using the reefs or where there is a large population, there are significant declines in coral reefs,” he said. (To be concluded)
