Nat'l scientist warns of reef destruction from China's activities in West PHL Sea

One of the Philippines' foremost scientists on Friday criticized China's reclamation operations in the West Philippine Sea, warning of extensive damage to the area's fragile marine resources.

 

University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute Professor Emeritus Dr. Edgardo Gomez recently presented a study on the effects of China's activities to several coral reef systems, including Burgos Reef (also known as Gaven Reef) and Kagitingan Reef (Fiery Cross Reef), in the contested Spratly group of islands.

The economic value of the Spratly coral reef ecosystem amounts to over $350,000 per hectare per year. However, an estimated area of 311 hectares of reef ecosystems in Spratlys or the Kalayaan Group of Islands have already been destroyed, according to a press release by the Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
 

“Healthy coral reefs in the West Philippine Sea are very important not only to us but also to the productivity of neighboring marginal seas made possible through larval connectivity,” Gomez was quoted as saying. — Marisse Panaligan/TJD, GMA News