[News] RP is center of marine biodiversity in the world

[Pinoy]

You can take it as me promoting my home country.

WORLD OCEAN DAY
RP is center of marine biodiversity in the world

First posted 03:55am (Mla time) June 08, 2006
By Blanche S. Rivera
Inquirer

Editor's Note: Published on Page A1 of the June 8, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

AUSTRALIA’S Great Barrier Reef may be the largest, most famous dive site in the world, but those who brave adverse travel advisories to delve deep into Philippine waters have the best bragging right, after all.

The Philippines is the center of marine fish biodiversity and the home of the most diverse marine ecosystem in the world, a recent study by American biologists Kent Carpenter and Victor Springer revealed.

The study, titled “The Center of the Marine Shore Fish Diversity: The Philippine Islands,” was published last year in the Environmental Biology of Fishes Journal No. 72 and cited in the latest Philippines Environment Monitor (PEM) published by the World Bank.

“We marvel at the Great Barrier Reef, but did you know that a group of some 100 scientists has said that the Philippines is the center of marine biodiversity in the world?” former Environment Secretary Elisea Gozun said in her presentation of the status of the country’s coastal and marine resources at the Philippine Plaza Hotel in Pasay City yesterday.

Before the publication of Carpenter’s and Springer’s study, Wallacea in Indonesia was considered the center of marine biodiversity in the world, but a closer look revealed that central Philippines had a “higher concentration of species per unit area than anywhere else in Indonesia.”

Following the Philippines in marine biodiversity concentration and endemism are Malaysia, Sumatra and Australia, respectively.

Second largest reef

Most of the endemic species in the Philippines are found in the Verde Island Passage between Mindoro island and the main island of Luzon.

The Philippines also has the second largest reef in the world, the 34-km Apo Reef located 24 km west of Sablayan town, Occidental Mindoro province, and 33 km northeast of the Calamian Group of Islands in northern Palawan province, according to Gozun.

The status and management of the country’s coastal and marine resources were presented to government officials, environmental organizations and the media during the national forum on sustainable development of coastal and marine resources yesterday.

World Ocean Day

The Philippines joins the celebration of World Ocean Day today with a reiteration of the Philippines’ commitment to the Putrajaya Declaration forging an Integrated Coastal Management system among Southeast Asian countries.

“In this part of the world, particularly, the seas of East Asia provide a significant portion of the region’s economic base, with a larger portion of the economic activities in the coastal cities,” Nileema Noble, United Nations Development Program resident representative, said in a speech in the same forum.

About 10 million fisherfolk and 50 million people are dependent on the region’s seas for their livelihood, Noble said.

Using data from the PEM 2005, Gozun said that the Philippines’ 26,000 sq km of coral reefs contribute $1.064 billion annually to the Philippine economy through direct and indirect services such as fisheries and tourism.

“When your area is being promoted as a tourism site, you have no alternative but to protect it, or you can kiss your investments goodbye,” Gozun said, addressing the local officials at the forum.

Most threatened

She said that while the Philippines was the center of marine biodiversity, it also has the region’s most threatened coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangroves.

Ninety-eight percent of the country’s reefs are threatened while 70 percent of mangroves have been lost or converted to fish ponds in the past 70 years.

“Compared to other countries with similar coastal resources, the Philippines appears to be using its coastal resources in a very inefficient manner,” Gozun said.

The country has 64 provinces and 832 municipalities along its 36,289-km coastline.

Oh well... just thought you guys might be interested (and have the guts to "brave adverse travel advisories").

:Later,

 

[cat64fish]

Hate to say this, but this is old news rehashed ... I think if you look in many fish books, they show the Philippines as one of the hot spots for fish diversity. Hardly surprising since Philippines is comprised of so many islands.

But the story is simplistic ... while Philippines may have the highest fish diversity, it is a different kind of diversity from the waters around Indonesia, or from that of Fiji / Vanuatu. Certainly, all these places have characteristics that make them special, if not unique - which is why the "belt", stretching from the Andaman Seas in the west to the Pacific islands in the east is considered to be the most diverse region on earth, biologically speaking.

Anyway, enough rambling ... I think I will go to Philippines for my next dive trip

Cheers, Jeff

PS. BTW I saw a mola-mola at Apo Reef last year ... all I managed to get, though, is a hazy photo of it as it swam away.

 

[kthan]

i don't know about diversity, but in terms of infrastructure and value, Philippines is way ahead of any other SE Asian countries.

Eric

 

[GS9826]

PS. BTW I saw a mola-mola at Apo Reef last year ... all I managed to get, though, is a hazy photo of it as it swam away. [/QUOTE]


Wah...which month is it that you saw the Mola?

 

[staad3]

Hate to say this, but this is old news rehashed ... I think if you look in many fish books, they show the Philippines as one of the hot spots for fish diversity. Hardly surprising since Philippines is comprised of so many islands.

But the story is simplistic ... while Philippines may have the highest fish diversity, it is a different kind of diversity from the waters around Indonesia, or from that of Fiji / Vanuatu. Certainly, all these places have characteristics that make them special, if not unique - which is why the "belt", stretching from the Andaman Seas in the west to the Pacific islands in the east is considered to be the most diverse region on earth, biologically speaking.

Anyway, enough rambling ... I think I will go to Philippines for my next dive trip

Cheers, Jeff

PS. BTW I saw a mola-mola at Apo Reef last year ... all I managed to get, though, is a hazy photo of it as it swam away.

I m thinking of going malapusca in oct this yr, wanna come along?

 

[cat64fish]

PS. BTW I saw a mola-mola at Apo Reef last year ... all I managed to get, though, is a hazy photo of it as it swam away.

Wah...which month is it that you saw the Mola?[/QUOTE]
March / April ... last year? (my memory is a bit hazy on dates) ... First time Molas seen there. Also on that trip, another group saw a hammerhead and a small whale shark (I think). But the Mola sighting beat them all hands down

 

[cat64fish]

I m thinking of going malapusca in oct this yr, wanna come along?

Been there .... water is cold, not too clear (at least when I was there) and currents can be quite strong. Wake up really early to catch the threshers ... usually you'll see it at least once. I recall the resort has nice beach though I didn't use it much.

I think I prefer Apo Reef ... did I mention it had the clearest water I've ever seen, besides Wakatobi and (maybe) Maldives? I mean crystal clear. It was surreal.

Might go to Bali, Dumaguette or Manado/Lembeh this year.

Cheers, Jeff