Fish: Going, going, gone?

Text and Photos by Henrylito D. Tacio
While fish is not an important source of calories in the human diet, it does have an important role in food supply of many communities, especially in developing countries like the Philippines.
“Fish protein is generally recognized as a valuable ingredient in a balanced diet,” said Dr. Veravat Hongskul, former regional fishery officer of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.  “It is of high biological value and contains essential amino acids not normally found in staple food.
“The oil from the fish,” he continued, “also contains essential fatty acids, which are necessary for the proper development of the brain and the body.  Where staple foods are available, a small quantity of fish can contribute significantly to increasing consumption by improving the over-all palatability of the food and add to its nutritive value.”
During his time, Jules Verne suggested that when the world reached the limits of food production on the land, man could turn to the oceans.  Unfortunately, many countries have been doing just that over the past several decades.
“Between 1950 and 1989, the fish catch expanded more than four-fold, climbing from 22 million tons to 100 million tons,” Lester R. Brown reported in his feature, “Facing Food Scarcity.” “During the six years since then, the catch has leveled off.  Contrary to the prognosis of Jules Verne, we reached the limits of the oceans first.”
This is true in the Philippines, home to more than 100 million people.  Touted as “the poor man’s protein,” fish is now getting scarcer.   Such is the case in Southern Mindanao’s fishing ground — the Davao Gulf.
Since 2000, the volume and quality of the fish in the Davao Gulf have been in constant decline.  This was the findings of the 10-year study entitled “Strengthening Governance and Sustainability of Small-scale Fisheries Management in the Philippines: An Ecosystem-based Fisheries Management Approach in Davao Region,” which was undertaken by World Fish Center.
A collaborative effort of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), local government units and the regional office of the Department of Science and Technology, the decade-study looked at the volume and quality of the harvests of 10 commonly fished species in the gulf: matambaka, tamban, moro-moro, caraballas, bilong-bilong, lapu-lapu, danggit, molmol, talakitok, and maya-maya.
Except for maya-maya, the harvest numbers for the species have been falling. At the current rate of decline, the caraballas, bilong-bilong, molmol, and danggit may all disappear completely from Davao Gulf within a decade, the study said.
The matambaka, tamban and moro-moro are more resilient, but even they may disappear within a generation, it added.
“We are running out of fish and running out of time. For a country known for marine biodiversity, there are very few fish left to catch,” Vince Cinches, Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, was quoted as saying.
The Philippines is among the largest fish producers in the world, the World Bank reports.   In 2013, the country ranked 7th among the top fish producing countries worldwide.   But fish production has been dropping: 5 million metric tons in 2009, 4.7 million metric tons in 2013, and 4.58 million metric tons in 2014.
The continuing decline is alarming since the country’s population is increasing by about 1.6%, according to the United Nations estimates. Most of these people live near the coastal areas.
“While there may be debate over the exact figures, there is no disagreement that the coastal zone is consistently the most populous part of the world and that there is a continuing tendency for people to migrate to it from the interior of the continents,” wrote Dr. Edgardo D. Gomez in an article which appeared in Our Planet. “The tremendous flux of people is increasing the pressure on an already stressed area.”
The Philippines, with more than 7,000 islands, has one of the world’s richest ecosystems, characterized by extensive coral reefs, seagrass beds and dense mangroves.  “Despite this abundance of marine resources, we know very well that a large percentage of our population living in coastal communities remain poor,” said Senator Loren Legarda during the First National Fisheries Industry Summit last February.
Coral reefs are the food basket for the fish.  An estimated 10-15% of the total fisheries come from coral reefs. About 80-90% of the income of small island communities comes from fisheries. “Coral reef fish yields range from 20 to 25 metric tons per square kilometer per year for healthy reefs,” says Dr. Angel C. Alcala, former environment secretary. 
Researchers believe that destructive fishing practices like blast fishing are one of the biggest threats to the coral reef ecosystems. “Coral reefs that may have taken thousands of years to grow are reduced to rubble in a matter of seconds, obscured by wafting clouds of silt,” wrote Gregg Yan, communication officer of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
Mangroves –the communities of trees in the tidal flats in coastal waters, extending inland along rivers where the water is tidal, saline, or brackish — are not spared from destruction.
Mangroves are very important to marine life, fishery expert Dr. Rafael D. Guerrero III points out.  They serve as sanctuaries and feeding grounds for fish that nibble on detritus (fallen and decaying leaves) trapped in the vegetation, and on the bark and leaves of living trees.
“(Mangroves) are important feeding sites for many commercially important fish species (mullet, tilapia, eel, and especially milkfish), shrimps, prawns, mollusks, crabs, and sea cucumbers,” says a World Bank report.  “Fry that gather in mangrove areas are very important for aquaculture.”
It’s hard not to include seagrasses when coastal ecosystems are mentioned.  “The seagrass beds have only been recognized for being just as productive as the other two, if not more so,” Dr. Gomez said.
Seagrass beds are rated the third most valuable ecosystem globally (on a per hectare basis), only preceded by estuaries and wetlands. Yet, they are completely ignored and not given importance.
“Despite their high biodiversity and abundance, seagrass habitats are still poorly understood in our country,” says Dr. Miguel D. Fortes, the country’s foremost expert on seagrasses. “Hence, it appears only marginally useful when, in fact, the ecosystem plays significant economic and ecological roles.”
Then, there are the effects of climate change.  “Sea level rise, floods that damage fish farms, and increased acidification of the oceans by 2050 could reduce farmed fish yield by 90%,” warned Senator Loren.