RATLYS, DESTROYING OLOGICAL BALANCE

n of the Spratlys has destroyed in the area.

Nonetheless, China has not paid attention to any bellyaching on the matter. The loudest noise seems to be coming from the United States, which raises the issue of freedom of navigation, since an estimated $5 trillion in goods are shipped through the South China Sea every year. The routes are also important for political and military security seasons given that the islands have been clearly militarized.

What the world is hardly aware of is the impact that the conversion and occupation of the Spratlys has done to destroy the marine ecology, and thus marine life in the area.

In his research activities with his students from his base in Bolinao, Pangasinan, McManus identified 600 species of fish, including hordes of hammerhead sharks in the 1990s.

However, in more recent research through swimming forays with his students through the area, he says, he could swim for a kilometer, and incredibly, not come across a single fish. McManus has gone far in ascertaining the destruction of the marine ecology.

In addition to access to NASA satellite maps, he even learned to fly and bought his own plane to do photographic research on the Spratlys which bolstered his findings about the destruction of the ecology.

Perhaps because of international pressures, Xi Zin Ping’s government has lately banned the harvesting of giant clams and production and trade in these as carved objet d’art. President Rodrigo Duterte seems to have come to an agreement with China to ban fishing in certain parts of the Scarborough Shoal, where a narrow inlet leads to a pond that serves as a nurturing area for marine life. Much has already been destroyed, but it is better late than never.

Perhaps in the next generation, if all claimants succeed in protecting the ecology now, marine life will thrive again in our coastal waters. McManus’s studies confirm his theory that larvae from the fish in the Scarborough Shoal find their way to our coastal areas as well as that of our neighbors with the movement of the currents, depending on where the weather and the winds take them.

Protecting and nurturing the marine ecology in the South China Sea (or the West Philippine Sea) is a crucial issue that should be taken up toward a consensus at the 2017 ASEAN annual conference which will be held in the Philippines, and will be chaired by President Rodrigo Duterte. This is a nonpolitical issue that should not be difficult to mobilize consensus on.

As a regional block with a population of 600 million, the ASEAN can make a big noise about this issue which can snowball into a global consensus, with the help of the United Nations, which, hopefully, will overcome the tirades from President Duterte, for the sake of the region’s critical marine ecology. If he has not yet done so, the President and his Cabinet along with the incoming Ambassador to China, Chito Sta. Romana should meet with Dr. John McManus for an in depth presentation of his enlightening research findings. Perhaps they should consider including a presentation of his research findings to the ASEAN heads of state. This might embolden them to confront the Chinese bully with a united front. Or, in the Asian way, persuade China to work with them to nurture and protect a common marine ecology. n