(Nov. 21, 2012) Greenpeace has teamed up with environment and fishing groups in
launching a ‘declaration of crisis in the Philippine Seas’ warning that marine resources
are on the brink of collapse. The campaign, the most explicit and coordinated in the
Philippines follows a two-day conference which discussed problems and possible solutions.
Dennis Calvan, executive director of the NGOs for Fisheries Reform, one of the organizers,
said the declaration is "an indicator that we are no longer in a state of denial,
that we acknowledge the devastation happening beneath the waves." He warned that those
would suffer most from the crisis were coastal and municipal fishing communities who
are already among the poorest people in the country. Dr. Radzma Sahaili, a marine
scientist from Mindanao State University, said the crisis was nothing new "but unfortunately
it remains inadequately addressed." The crisis of the Philippine seas will soon reach
the tipping point where our fish stocks and marine ecosystems will not be able to
fully recover,” she added. The Philippines has one of the most diverse aquatic
ecosystems in the planet, but they are also among the most threatened. Only five percent
of the country’s coral reefs are still in good condition, and of 450,000 hectares
of mangroves recorded in 1914, only around 100,000 hectares remain. The government's
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources reported that ten out of 13 surveyed fishing
grounds in the country are either severely fished or overexploited.