philippines tagged posts

A study has shown how ecotourism in the Philippines has transformed people’s attitudes towards marine conservation. Researchers from the University of Victoria in Canada and Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE), visited three sites where tourists pay to swim with whale sharks in the wild. They interviewed a range of locals who work for the tour operators in Oslob, Donsol and Pintuyan, including fishers and ex-whale shark hunters.

In all three locations people said their perception of whale sharks—and of the wider marine environment—had changed positively since the introduction of eco-tourism.

At Oslob, the largest of the three sites, people were more likely to speak about the resulting improvements to their quality of life and an increase in job opportuniti...

A team of marine biologists on Friday, January 12, called for stronger action to conserve and protect Philippines’ marine resources. Marine scientist Dr. Daniel Pauly says that their report has shown that the catch of fisheries across the globe is not only much higher than what is being reported by FAO – it has also been declining in the past two decades.

“We cannot let fishery resources continue to be overfished. This endangers our food security, both in the short term and in the long term, because overfishing also demolishes the ecosystems within which these resources are embedded,” the group, led by fisheries scientist Dr. Daniel Pauly, said.

Pauly shared his lectures on marine biodiversity conservation with stakeholders from the government, academia, and civil society groups...

In April 2013, poaching vessel F/V Min Long Yu destroyed 3,902 square meters of seabed in the Tubbataha Reefs. Ongoing reclamation in a half-dozen reefs has now obliterated 1.2 million square meters—310 times the damage wrought on Tubbataha.

Mechanical dredgers that cut, crush and compact corals have also stirred up sediments to smother adjoining reefs. This threatens the biological productivity of the West Philippine Sea—a spawning and feeding site for endangered sea turtles and high-value fish like tuna.

“A single square kilometer of healthy coral reef can generate 40 metric tonnes of seafood yearly. We have theoretically lost the ability to produce 48 metric tonnes year on year,” notes WWF-Philippines President and CEO Joel Palma...