UP Visayas: Warns of over-fishing

From Business Mirror

“Marine reserves provide more fishes and increased income for local communities. Not just fish, even coral reefs are declining rapidly due to dynamite fishing, overfishing, ocean acidification, pollution and so on,” he added.

As for corals, the Philippines has reefs considered among the most diverse, providing home to more than 900 fish species and more than 400 coral species, including many that are endemic to the area. The system is part of the Coral Triangle that encompasses, in addition to the Philippines, the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands covering 1 billion hectares and containing 75 percent of the world’s coral species. Eighty percent of the region’s coral reefs are at risk.

Rodelio Subade, a researcher at the University of the Philippines Visayas, said these reefs are seriously threatened with extinction. He said that, for example, in Northern Panay, the dynamite-fishing practice is a big threat to the coral reefs.

“The threat of losing our biodiversity is really serious,” Subade told the BusinessMirror. “People have a high level of awareness of the importance of endangered-species conservation but when compared with other environmental concerns, it was perceived as of less priority.”

From: http://ping.fm/jbptp