Philippines-Vietnam South China Sea expeditions

The Ha Long Conference highlighted the unique environmental characteristics of the South China Sea and the present conditions of its biological resources, particularly those in the Spratlys.

The primary marine ecosystem in the Spratlys is the coral reef represented by emergent coralline islands, shoals and atolls distributed in a wide expanse of ocean environment with varying depths, thus providing a variety of microhabitats for a high diversity of marine organisms occurring in the area. The primary basis for natural productivity is photosynthesis by plant plankton and zooxanthellae in corals. The coral reef systems, especially the atolls, facilitate the cycling and retention mechanisms for nutrients, marine propagules and adult organisms that are distributed by oceanographic processes, such as currents, wave action and upwellings, to marine areas outside the Spratlys. This way, countries (the Philippines included) bordering the South China Sea benefit from biological resources originating from the Spratlys.

To cite specific examples, there are some 250 species of scleractinian corals (a few species quite rare) that could re-seed destroyed reef areas of southern and western Philippines, thus assuring future survival of Philippine coral reefs. Thus far about 330 species of reef fish species have been identified from the Spratlys, many of which are target or food fishes. The larvae and juveniles of these species can potentially reach western Philippine waters to replenish their own kind. The same could be true for other large marine species of invertebrates (sea cucumbers, octopuses, giant clams for example) and large non-fish vertebrates (marine turtles, manta rays, for example), all of which are either few or absent in the area studied. There is evidence that larvae of pelagic fish species range far and wide in the South China Sea, but more observations on their distribution need to be done for reef fishes.

The findings of JOMSRE-SCS I, III, and IV show serious concerns for the Philippines. During the past 11 years, from 1996 to 2007, the densities and standing stocks of the marine species associated with coral reefs mentioned above have been drastically reduced. Some species like sharks and manta rays are nowhere to be found. The biomass (=weight) of target fish species in 2007 have been reduced to one-third that in the late 1990s. If two thirds or 67 percent of fish standing stocks are lost in 11 years, this should be a serious matter that requires immediate response on the part of the Philippines. As a country, we have had too many lessons in past from the overexploitation and destruction of standing stocks of fishery species.

It is clear that heavy exploitation of the fishery resources has occurred in the South China Sea. In the 1980s and late 1990s, large fishes were caught by muro-ami fishers from the Spratlys and other areas in the South China Sea. Our underwater data for 2005 and 2007 showed only small individuals of target fish species and very few large invertebrates. Fishing vessels have been catching octopuses, giant clams, sea cucumbers and turtles in the Spratlys. Adult turtles and their eggs that are laid on beaches have been harvested. Dried sea cucumbers, dried fish, empty shells of giant clams, and skulls of turtles have been observed on the North Danger Reef. The evidence is clear that over-exploitation has been going on in the Spratlys. This over-exploitation is occurring even on our own controlled islands.