Scientists urge long-term monitoring of WPS resources

A GROUP of the country’s leading scientists is calling for the long-term monitoring and sustainable management of resources in the West Philippine Sea, amid rising tensions between the Philippines and China.

A public forum facilitated by the University of the Philippines Diliman College of Science (UPD-CS) on the geopolitical and ecological situation in the West Philippine Sea focused on promoting strategies that scientists and researchers can use to protect and preserve the area’s marine resources.

“The issue of the West Philippine Sea is not a single-topic issue; it is also not a single-agency activity,” UPD-CS Dean Giovanni Tapang said.

PAG-ASA ISLAND INSPECTION Previous reports had it that dead and crushed corals were dumped on Sandy Cay 2 in Pag-asa Group of Island, prompting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to visit and verify the reports. Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga (partly covered) personally led the visit to inspect the island. Photo from DENR

Tapang said the college is willing “to work with everyone to address not only the scientific issues surrounding the West Philippine Sea but other issues as well.”

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UPD-CS Marine Science Institute (MSI) Director Dr. Laura David listed climate change, overfishing, oil spills, land use, plastics, and reclamation of islands as among the threats to the West Philippine Sea.

David said living coral reefs continue to be destroyed as more natural formations like islets and atolls are transformed into habitable areas.

She said the Philippines has experienced the biggest decline in the number of fish families found in the West Philippine Sea — from 34 to 22 — in just 20 years.

“Somebody has to be held liable for all that damage because the damage is not just local,” David said.

“People think that our neighbors are interested in the West Philippine Sea because of natural gas. That’s true, but they’re also interested in the fish because they have to feed their population,” she added.

David said that unlike the Philippines, its neighbors subsidize their fisherfolk by giving them extra compensation for every tub of fish they catch aside from the cost of the actual fish.

She also pointed to the oil spill in the Verde Island Passage in 2023 as proof that the Philippines was still not prepared for such incidents.

David said that mangroves have also degraded all over the South China Sea area because they are being converted for land use.

Plastic waste is another major threat to the West Philippine Sea, she said.

“In certain areas, including West Palawan, you have mostly fishing gear. But as you come closer to the population, then it becomes trash associated with shampoos, sachets, snacks, and so on. If you look at the labels of those, they are not just in English. They’re in different languages. That means it’s coming from all over the South China Sea,” she said.

David also underscored the importance of long-term monitoring in drawing up plans for protecting and preserving marine resources.

“We need to increase our research efforts, and we need to involve a lot of other disciplines. We need to talk to the fishers, and we need more policymakers so that we can make better-informed policies for the West Philippine Sea,” she said.

Dr. Fernando Siringan, MSI professor and National Academy of Science and Technology academician, also advocated long-term monitoring of marine and terrestrial biodiversity in the West Philippine Sea.

Siringan called on the government to fund the research projects, since they are expensive and can be perilous.

He mentioned the marine station on Pagasa Island, and that for 2024, six more marine stations all over the country will be established.

Prof. Herman Joseph Kraft of the UPD College of Social Sciences and Philosophy-Department of Political Science, said geopolitics, when applied to the West Philippine Sea issue, is more than just a Philippines-versus-China affair.

“On one hand, you’re talking about questions of control over space. But, on the other hand, that control involves the relationship between the great powers — particularly, the competition between China and the United States,” Kraft said.

He said countries in the South China Sea adjusted their claims based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

Only China, which maintains its nine-dash line claim, defies the Unclos principle, Kraft said.

WITH FRANCO JOSE C. BAROÑA

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