Jay Maclean depicts beauty, diversity of PHL marine life in 'Tropical Seas’ book

Having lived in the Philippines for 34 years, Australian marine biologist Jay Maclean is probably more passionate about protecting Philippine waters than most Filipinos.

In an interview with GMA News Online, Maclean said, “We have beautiful coral reefs and ecosystems in the marine area in the tropics that are so valuable.”

These marine treasures are “becoming more valuable every day,” and the pressure to protect them from industries and pollution mounts, Maclean said on the sidelines of the launch of his book “In Tropical Seas” last month.

The book, published by the Enrique Zobel Foundation, was launched as part of the celebration of Environment Month and Coral Triangle Day.

“We’re a little island nation. I saw ‘we’ because I'm a Pinoy now,” said Maclean, who has two teenage sons with his Filipina wife.

Maclean recounted that he arrived in the Philippines in 1980 “and I've never left since. About a year after I arrived, I met my wife and we've been married for 29 years.”

“I became interested in marine life here and began to take photographs and dive and snorkel,” he said.

Biodiversity

Maclean marvels about the abundance of sea life in the Philippines—which, along with the Malay archipelago, Papua New Guinea, and Australia, forms the “Coral Triangle,” so named for having a "staggering number of corals" and an abundance of marine life, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.

The full extent of the Philippines’ marine biodiversity is not yet known, but experts have so far noted that the country has 5,000 species of clams, snails and mollusks; nearly 490 species of corals and over 980 species of bottom-living algae.

Maclean’s book contains information for young adults about the tropical marine environment and how each part—from the beach, intertidal zone, lagoon, mangrove forest, seagrass bed, coral reef, and deep offshore waters—are interconnected and dependent on one another.

Maclean writes, “Beaches usually look empty of life apart from us humans. But look closely and you might see small shells start to move. Pick one up and inside will be an angry hermit crab, glaring with its eyes on stalks. You might even get a nip from its hairy claws.”

He also notes that out of the world's 70 mangrove forest species, 46 species can be found in the Philippines. Mangrove forests, he writes, “protect the land from erosion by storms and even tsunamis”—and so there is a great need to reforest the country's denuded mangroves: “By taking away mangroves, we sever the connections between them and both the marine and land-based life that depends on them. Nowadays, replanting is often done to remedy our mistakes.”

For his sons

Maclean, who began painting aquatic scenes in 1987, is an honorary member of the Angono Artists Association and has joined the group in their exhibits. His paintings have been bought by collectors all over the world, from Australia to Canada, US, Mexico, and Europe.

From 1980 to 1996, he worked with the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management as the head of the Information Program and for several years was its Director General.

He is currently a consultant to the Asian Development Bank.

Maclean said he had wanted to write a book about tropical seas for years, especially as he yearned to educate his sons Barney and Marlon about the value of protecting the environment, including marine life.

“Many young people have not had the chance to wander along a clean tropical seashore or to snorkel or dive in tropical seas or even know what exciting creatures live there,” he wrote.

“In Tropical Seas” is a 56-page book filled with Maclean's own colorful drawings of sea creatures like the parrotfish, squirrelfish, grouper, rabbitfish, lionfish, butterflyfish, sharks, mussels and blue swimmer crab.

Maclean said his sons love the sea and he hopes that their interest in it will be piqued further by reading the book he wrote and illustrated.

“My hope,” wrote the author, “is that they and many other young people like them will discover in these words and drawings the fascination and variety of life in tropical seas and why we should take care of it all.” — BM, GMA News