|
It
was—and still—is considered the country’s southern
backdoor, a way out for Filipinos caught in the grip of
poverty and conflict, and a way in for Filipinos wanting
to free themselves of that grip, through the power of
smuggled goods and smuggled ideologies.
The Sulu
and Sulawesi seas are a vast maritime expanse—900,000
square kilometers wide to be exact—hemmed in by
coastlines belonging to three nations: Malaysia,
Indonesia and the Philippines. The trinational character
of this Southeast Asian border area, along with the
shared blood, culture and history of many of the peoples
who populate it, has conspired with its vast
internationally borderlined waters and countless small
islands, coves and inlets to become an ideal place to
lose one’s pursuers in.
But
beyond its unique geographic characteristic and
positioning in this strategic corner of the great
Pacific Ocean, the Sulu and Sulawesi seas are much
coveted for one other much more strategic reason—their
being among the world’s most diverse and productive
marine ecosystems, situated in the heart of what marine
biologists refer to as the Coral Triangle, center of the
world’s highest concentration of marine biodiversity.
The Sulu
and Sulawesi seas are home to a wide array of marine
plants and animals. These range from seagrass meadows to
mangrove forests, coral reefs and marine fishes,
dolphins and whales, marine turtles, sharks and rays, as
well as other less known but equally important plants
and animals.
The area
is also home to about 35 million people who benefit from
exploiting this vast repository of ocean wealth through
fishing, agricultural production, tourism and even
mining. These are economic activities that over time and
unabated population growth have given rise to
destructive fishing practices that threaten the very
marine ecosystems upon which millions depend for food
and livelihood.
PHILIPPINE authorities
(Navy and Coast Guard) caught these Chinese poachers
with their loot of slaughtered and processed hawksbill
turtles off the waters of Balabac Strait. These poachers
sometimes enter Malaysian or Indonesian waters to avoid
capture by Philippine forces, which emphasizes the need
for transborder security patrol and cooperation.
--ART FABURADA
Threats
Of such
practices, overfishing is considered to be the biggest
threat. Increasing demand for seafood by a steadily
growing population and expanding external markets
continue to affect coastal ecosystems in the
Sulu-Sulawesi seas. Fishers resort to unsustainable and
illegal fishing methods that destroy marine habitats
such as the rapid conversion of mangrove areas into
aquaculture ponds, blast fishing, the use of poison in
collecting reef fish for the aquarium industry, and the
harvest of spawning fishes for the live reef food fish
trade.
All
these, according to Romeo B. Trono, Philippine executive
director of Conservation International, a Washington,
D.C.-based NGO working to conserve global biodiversity,
negatively impact replenishment of fishery, destroy
critical habitats and jeopardize the food security of
human populations.
Additional threats, Trono said, are posed by improper
land-based development and marine-based activities such
as shipping—which is expanding in the Sulu-Sulawesi—that
contribute to pollution, global climate change, and
degradation of habitats and productive ecosystems.
Human
migration, marine wildlife traffic, poaching by foreign
vessels, and inadequate enforcement mechanisms for
transboundary monitoring and regulation, he added,
transfer problems across borders and become stumbling
blocks to managing a common resource.
To
address these problems, Conservation International (CI)
launched the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project, aimed at
building the strong foundation for a long-term
conservation program while addressing current threats to
the biological diversity of the Sulu and Sulawesi seas.
The
project calls for the establishment of “marine
biodiversity conservation corridors” within the Sulu and
Sulawesi seas to facilitate the dispersal of fish
larvae, protect the migration routes of marine animals,
including commercially important pelagic fishes, and
even serve as shipping lanes.
Management of the corridors is considered especially
important in the light of planned development targets in
the Sulu-Sulawesi area, which include offshore oil
exploration, such that partnership with oil and gas
corporations would be crucial in biodiversity
conservation in the area.
The
designation of marine biodiversity conservation
corridors entails a lot of policy and coordination work
at the local, national and international levels,
according to Evangeline Miclat, marine coordinator of
Conservation International (CI).
FIRST live documentation of
dwarf spinner dolphin, a shallow-water subspecies of the
spinner dolphin, which is a pelagic dolphin species.
Previous documentations of dwarf spinners are based on
dead specimens until photographed in May 2006 during
CI’s marine mammal survey in Sulu Sea off the waters of
Balabac Strait.
TERRY AQUINO
Marine
protected areas
A common
strategy for marine conservation and ecosystem
management is the establishment of marine protected
areas, or MPAs. Since corridors are large areas and
encompass several political and administrative units,
there is a need to scale up the strategy from single,
independent MPAs to a network of interdependent and
linked MPAs.
Establishment of networks of MPAs, whether within or
across countries in the Sulu-Sulawesi seascape, requires
the participation of various stakeholders from different
affected sectors (government, nongovernment, local
communities, private and business groups, academe and
even the media).
To
achieve this, all stakeholders must be on the same page
as to the importance of such MPAs and networks to the
sustainability of fisheries and the survival of all that
depend on the seas for food and livelihood.
According to Miclat, CI ensures this by conducting
regular information, education and communication
campaigns aimed at raising public awareness of and
support for the MPAs within a designated corridor. CI
also works through partnerships with government agencies
and units, other NGOs, the academic and scientific
communities, and the private sector to deliver
conservation actions on the ground.
CI also
provides the necessary technical assistance and advice
to its partners that in many cases have contributed to
the passage of laws and policies to establish and govern
MPAs.
CI’s
collaborative work with partners also results in the
enhanced implementation of laws, which are important not
only to regulate fishing but also to curb destructive
practices, as well as transborder poaching and other
criminal economic activity by unscrupulous fish traders
catering to the burgeoning demand for fresh seafood,
particularly from the global tourism industry.
In a
marine biodiversity conservation workshop conducted by
Conservation International for Filipino, Indonesian and
Malaysian journalists in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, from May
23 to 25, it was reported that poachers in the
Sulu-Sulawesi seas were able to conduct their illegal
activities and evaded capture during hot pursuit by
borderline-jumping between Indonesian, Malaysian and
Philippine waters.
“Our
work also entails a lot of coordination among
communities and countries,” Miclat said. This is because
the establishment of MPAs cannot be done automatically
and arbitrarily.
Priority
marine corridors
A lot of
scientific work is required to identify which part of
the seas is vital to which part of the life cycles of
migratory species being targeted for conservation, or
which part when protected can effectively contribute to
the replenishment of the fishery.
One of
the reasons many MPAs do not work is that their
establishment was without the benefit of scientific due
diligence, thus they are not in proper places.
Within
the Sulu-Sulawesi, Conservation International has
established four priority marine corridors. These are
the Verde Passage Corridor, between the provinces of
Batangas, Mindoro Oriental and Mindoro Occidental; the
Cagayan Ridge Corridor, in the middle of the Sulu Sea,
where world heritage site-designate Tubattaha Reef is
located; the Balabac Strait Corridor in the southern tip
of Palawan, and the Tri-National Sea Turtle Corridor,
which includes Sabah in Malaysia, Turtle Islands in the
Philippines and East Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Through
partnerships with other organizations and stakeholder
groups, Conservation International seeks to conserve the
full range of biodiversity in the Sulu-Sulawesi through
the identification and establishment of marine protected
areas, capacity-building and development of
law-enforcement strategies.
This
initiative supports the implementation of the
stakeholders’ Conservation Plan for Sulu-Sulawesi seas
that was adopted by Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines in the year 2004.
“We are
working so that by the year 2012, we will already have
effectively managed and protected networks of MPAs in
the Sulu-Sulawesi seascape supported by stakeholders who
are informed, empowered and committed to preserving the
biodiversity and productivity of the region for
generations to come,” Miclat said. |
