Reclamation’s downside: Cavite’s remaining coral, fish pens to be wiped out
Cavite’s coastal towns have very little coral cover left. The remaining coral field, including the hundreds of fish pens that line up the coastal waters, will have to be sacrificed in the drive to create more land out of the Manila Bay.
This conclusion came from no less than the environmental impact study commissioned by Davao’s favorite son, Dennis Uy, to support his group’s application to build two islands in the middle of Manila Bay.
According to Technotrix Consultancy Services, the ideal and most economical landfill to create the two islands, with a combined area of 265 hectares, will have to come from dredging a 20,000-hectare field within the San Nicolas Shoal along the coastal towns of Ternate, Naic, Tanza, and Rosario, all in Cavite province.
Incidentally, that shoal, according to Technotrix’s Edgardo Alabastro, who is also vice chairman of the environment committee of the Federation of Philippine Industries, is already denuded.
“The EIS (environmental impact study) Report for the SNS (San Nicolas Shoal) stated the absence of major marine species and that there are essentially no coral covers except for approximately two to four percent coral cover for the Municipality of Ternate, while the rest of the quarry area has no coral community,” Alabastro’s study said.
As to the coastal fishing industry, “the relevance of the location of the (San Nicolas Shoal) relative to the project lies in the potential damage(s) to the fish lifts close to the navigational lane of the dredging/reclamation vessel.”
As to the risk of flooding, while the five-year dredging and reclamation is ongoing, this is what the study said:
“Barangay 76, Zone 10 fronting the site and hosting onshore establishments are considered DIAs (direct impact areas) for socio-economic aspects and perhaps for environmental/risks aspects as well, principally regarding flooding and storm surges.”
Barangay 76, Zone 10, according to Google Maps, is bound by the Libertad Channel, Harrison St., and covers, yikes!, the entire Mall of Asia.
The “perception of floods” might also affect the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Coconut Palace, Philippine International Convention Center, and Harbour Square, the study added.
As for the feared storm surge and tsunami, the good news is that the two Dennis Uy islands will form a protective barrier around the very same area that their reclamation would put them into flood-risk category.
Incidentally, the first and closer of the two islands is about 1.68 kilometers from the JW Diokno Blvd., but the study is silent as to how the Dennis Uy-Chinese engineering consortium aims to connect the islands to the mainland – the Philippine mainland.