Chinese vessel damages 464 sqm of coral reef near Pag-asa Island after anchoring

Manila Bulletin

A total of 464 square meters of coral reef were damaged when a Chinese fishing militia anchored at a cay near Pag-asa (Thitu) Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) in June.  This was the revelation made by marine scientists from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD) and the National Task Force for West Philippine Sea (NTF-WPS) on Monday, July 14, as they seek to impose a penalty amounting to P11,159,040 from the operator of the Chinese vessel.   READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/07/14/chinese-vessel-damages-464-sqm-of-coral-reef-near-pag-asa-island-after-anchoring-p11-m-penalty-sought  Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5664f6TkaeHgwBly50DWZQ/join  Subscribe to the Manila Bulletin Online channel! - https://www.youtube.com/TheManilaBulletin   Visit our website at http://mb.com.ph Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manilabulletin Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/manila_bulletin Instagram: https://instagram.com/manilabulletin Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@manilabulletin  #ManilaBulletinOnline #ManilaBulletin #LatestNews

Transcript

00:00So, for our findings, this report will focus mainly on the results of the underwater scuba that we conducted.

00:13So, the grounding site is just located 2.6 kilometers east of Pagasa Island.

00:22Kung mahikita nyo po dyan sa slide, yung dito po sa inset po natin.

00:30Yung inset map, doon naman po sa upper left, mahikita nyo po yung red lines.

00:41Yun po yung dinaanan po natin ng ating re-scan.

00:44When we zoom in on that, eto na po yung mahikita natin, yung yellow polygon and green polygons.

00:52So, just remember these two polygons.

00:55Si yellow polygon, sya po yung sea anchor area, and the green polygon, sya po yung impacted area.

01:04Doon po nakafocus yung aming underwater assessment.

01:09Next slide please.

01:10So, yung kanina pong yellow polygon, yung po yung ating sea anchor area, it is about 9 meters depth po.

01:22Doon po natin nakita yung sea anchor.

01:25In this case po, parachute anchor po yung ginamit ng Chinese vessel.

01:29And yung parachute anchor po, function niya po is to limit yung drag ng vessel.

01:40Kaya po sya, yun po yung ginamit na lang.

01:42Kasi that time po daw po, ay masama po yung panahon.

01:46And, we measured yung paglapat po, nung sea anchor sa bottom.

01:54And we measured it at about 307 square meters.

01:59So, ito pong buong 307 square meters na po, ay considered as damage na po.

02:05And, Dr. Ben will explain it later why.

02:09Next slide please.

02:10So, on your left, left side po ng screen, yung po yung scene sa ilalim.

02:19Yung po yung actual na sea anchor.

02:21And, on the right side of the screen, it's just for demonstration purposes po.

02:26Hindi po yan yung actual na, yung sa right side.

02:29Just for demonstration, ganyan po sya ginagamit.

02:32So, just to keep afloat po yung ating vessel,

02:37gumagamit po sila ng parachute anchor.

02:39Para hindi po sya madrug away.

02:44Next slide please.

02:46So, this is just a video clip again,

02:49nung parachute anchor sa ilalim.

02:52Showing po yung, yung mismong canopy niya.

02:58Yung kulay white.

02:59And then, yung mga strings po niya.

03:02These are made up of high density nylon material.

03:09So, we tried to lift that up.

03:14Sobra pong bigat niya.

03:17And for a six-month dive team, medyo mahira po syang buhatin.

03:24Next slide po.

03:25So, we turned naman our focus dun sa green polygon, which is the, we called it impacted area.

03:37In our previous assessments in damage of a grounding vessel sa Palawan,

03:41We usually look for indications na nag-ground po talagang isang vessel.

03:48May kita po natin yun sa pamamagitan ng meron pong, yung mga reef structure mismo,

03:54ay either na pa-flat po sya, talagang flat po,

03:58or nato-turn over po.

04:01At makikita niyo po yung sun sa ilalim.

04:04O kaya naman, dulog na dulog sya, pulverized po yung,

04:07almost pulverized yung makikita niyong mga reef fragments kapag yung kill or yung hull po nung vessel ay na-ground.

04:15So, yung po yung hinanap po namin.

04:17But in this case, we didn't find any of those indicators.

04:22Instead, yung damages po na nakita po natin ay broken fragments,

04:27broken fragments po ng mga branching corals,

04:32and chip-off fragments ng mga massive corals.

04:37Kung kayo po ay nag-snorkel, yung mga massive po yung parang mga pilog-pilog na bato,

04:41ayun po.

04:43And for the broken fragments, both hard and soft corals po ang nakita po natin na putol-putol.

04:51And we conclude, based on our observation,

04:57that the damages on the reef diyan po sa impacted area,

05:01ay caused by yung drag mismo nung reef angkor.

05:06And we estimate, yung po yung mga yellow dots po na yan,

05:11yung po yung mga actual na location po saan po namin nakita yung mga broken fragments of corals.

05:19And we estimate at around 30% of that area nung kulay green na polygon,

05:27yung po yung damage po dyan.

05:29And yung sa yellow polygon po natin kanina na si angkor area,

05:33that is totally damaged din po.

05:36Next slide, please.

05:37And these are some of the photos sa ilalim.

05:43Yung three upper photos po natin, those are branching corals,

05:51both hard and soft corals na broken.

05:55And then sa baba naman po, three bottom figures,

05:58yun po ay mga na-chip off na massive corals.

06:02Next slide.

06:05Same po, yan po yung mga pinapakita po natin dyan ay mga branching corals,

06:09both hard and soft corals.

Category

Transcript

Recommended