This was the recommendation of Dr. Wilfredo Roehl Y. Licuanan during his talk at the recent forum on National Coral Research and Development Program organized by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
“Reefs do not form overnight. They take thousands of years to develop,” he said in his talk entitled “Current Status of Philippine Coral Reefs and Prospects for the Near Future.”
According to him, the current coral reef crisis cannot be resolved by coral gardening as it is expensive and is not practical. The method, he said, is also risky as instead of actually repairing the damaged coral reef, it might harm the reef even more.
A couple of years ago, I attended an international conference on coral reefs in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In a press conference during the symposium, Dr. Baruch Rinkevich, a senior scientist with the Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, talked about the so-called “gardening coral reefs concept,” a method inspired from forest restoration guidelines.
The technique involves generating and farming large stocks of new coral colonies in a floating nursery which is far from predators and other disturbances. After one year or so, they are transplanted into degraded areas.
“In past efforts, we have taken coral colonies from healthy localities and transplanted them into denuded areas,” Dr. Rinkevich said. “This method resulted in low survival rates and inflicted stress on donor coral colonies.”
But in the case of the Philippines, coral gardening might not work. Dr. Licuanan claimed that 80% of the coral mortality is actually caused by various human activities and not natural calamities.
He cited the case of the minesweeper ship USS Guardian. On January 17, 2013, the ship ran aground on the south atoll of the Tubbataha Reefs, a delicate ecosystem in the Sulu Sea treasured for its rich marine biodiversity.
The grounding damaged 2,345 square meters of coral on the reefs. What made the damage alarming is the fact Tubbataha Reefs is considered a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“The better thing to do is to take care of the remaining reefs,” Dr. Licuanan suggested.
On the other hand, Dr. Patrick C. Cabaitan talked on sexual production of corals and asked “Why sex is not enough?”
According to him, studying coral reefs is essential to the economy of the Philippines as they also provide for the ecotourism of the country. However, he stressed that scientific intervention is an important tool in coral production.
“Corals reproduce through asexual and sexual means but sex is not enough for the corals,” Dr. Cabaitan was quoted as saying in a press statement released by DOST.
He suggested that researchers or anyone interested in studying corals pursue basic science to understand reefs; consider other ecological processes in conducting reef restoration efforts, and integrate restoration with management efforts.
Coral reefs, which are described as “Eden beneath the waves,” support a quarter of all marine species, as well as half a billion people around the world.
And they are fast disappearing from this planet.
“This isn’t something that’s going to happen 100 years from now. We’re losing them right now,” said marine biologist Julia Baum of Canada’s University of Victoria. “We’re losing them really quickly, much more quickly than I think any of us ever could have imagined.”
Even in the Philippines, home to more than 7,000 islands, coral reefs are not spared from extinction.
Our country has about 27,000 square kilometers of coral reefs. Two-thirds of them are in Palawan (the country’s last frontier) and Sulu Archipelago.
Of the almost 700 coral species known to man, 500 of these species can be found in our country. But only 400 of these remain, according to the Center for Environmental Concern.
Yes, we are losing our coral reefs.
A survey conducted in 1991-1992 by the Regional Fishermen’s Training Center in Panabo, Davao del Norte 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.”
As early as 1970s, the East-West Center in Hawaii had already sounded the alarm. At that time, the study disclosed that more than half of the reefs in the country were “in advanced states of destruction.”
The same study reported that only about 25% were considered to be “in good condition” while only 5% were “in excellent condition.”
Nothing much have changed since then. In truth, the destruction of this vital Philippine resource is getting worse, as recent studies have shown.
“Nowhere else in the world are coral reefs abused as much as the reefs in the Philippines,” commented marine scientist Don C. McAllister, who once studied the cost of coral reef destruction in the country.
“To lose coral reefs is to fundamentally undermine the health of a very large proportion of the human race,” said Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.
