PH expedition charts WPS marine life needing rehab, protection

TO BETTER KNOW WHAT MUST BE SAVED Researchers from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), the University of the Philippines and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, shown in these photos taken at the Pag-asa Island Research Station and nearby waters at the Kalayaan Island Group, hope to come up with the baseline data needed to better plan the rehabilitation of marine ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea. They started working on Feb. 22 and will wrap up the project on Friday. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PCG

The government is ramping up efforts to rehabilitate the coral reefs and other marine ecosystems in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), including the areas in the country’s territorial waters being claimed by China.

Spearheading the latest initiative are experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

The PCG on Wednesday said that since Feb. 22, members of its Marine Science Group had been working with scientists and environmentalists from the UP Marine Science Institute and the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau in a “research expedition” at the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).

The project, which wraps up on Feb. 28, aims to establish a baseline biodiversity data in the area.

The teams from the three organizations will identify and map priority reef restoration sites by assessing the diversity and community structure of seaweeds, mollusks and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates.

They are also documenting the biodiversity and distribution of seagrass on the reef flat of Pagasa (Thitu) Island, and also of the mollusk species for a better understanding of their habitat interactions.

The initiative serves as “a prelude to a series of activities to rehabilitate the coral reefs and other marine ecosystems” in the WPS, the PCG added.

At a media briefing in August last year, marine scientist Jonathan Anticamara of the UP Institute of Biology reported the coral beds off Pag-asa Island, which is part of KIG, had been found to be in a degraded state.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), through its Marine Science Group (MSG) joined the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UP MSI) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR BMB) research project on the establishment of a baseline biodiversity data at the Kalayaan Island Group on 22 February 2025 and will run until 28 February 2025. —PHOTOS COURTESY OF PCG

Pile of dead corals

In the area known as Pag-asa Cay 2, Anticamara said, divers found a pile of crushed, dead corals already “taller’’ than an average person.

“Only less than 5 percent or less than 10 percent” of the corals in Pag-asa remained alive, he said.

Damage to other coral reefs in the WPS had become “extensive,” notably in the waters off Zambales province and at Escoda (Sabina) Shoal, which lies 150 kilometers west of Palawan province, areas within the country’s 370-km exclusive economic zone, he added.

Earlier surveys

In assessments made also last year, the PCG said coral reef damage of of such scale was an indication of small-scale reclamation or island-building activities.

In 2023, the PCG conducted underwater surveys from August to September at the Escoda and Rozul (Iroquois) Reefs and suspected the activities of Chinese vessels to be behind the extensive damage on the local marine environment.

It noted signs of “deliberate activities … to modify the natural topography of (the) underwater terrain,” as shown by the heaps of crushed corals that had been dumped.

The Chinese Embassy in Manila then dismissed the PCG’s allegations as “baseless and speculative.”