Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza issued on Monday a cease and desist order against the operation of the Yellow Submarine and suspended the business permit of its operator, the Cebu Yellow Submarine Undersea Tour Corp, after its undersea vessel smashed a coral reef off Mactan.
Environment officials on Friday began assessing the damage to the coral reefs in the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park after they were grazed by a US Navy minesweeper last Thursday, saying the US government may be liable to pay fines of up to P1 million.
Chance favors the prepared mind,” scientist Louis Pasteur taught. Many were unprepared for killer typhoons “Sendong” and “Pablo.” Sendong’s death toll topped 1,453. That made it the “world’s deadliest storm in 2011.” A year later, “Pablo” proved the “world’s deadliest,” notes “Global Catastrophe Recap.” It left 1,901 dead plus P37 billion in damages.
Most coral reefs located in Philippine waters are under dire threat, save for three marine habitats that serve as havens for fish, whales and dolphins and replenish the country’s lost sea riches.
Coral reefs around the world are under threat from another round of bleaching as ocean surface temperature is expected to rise in the latter part of the year, according to a leading marine scientist.
Most of the country’s coral reefs are in need of rehabilitation with only four percent still in pristine condition, a senior environment official said Thursday.
The Panama-registered bulk carrier that ran aground on the Bakud Reef off Sarangani province was finally towed away Wednesday, more than a month after it plowed through the corals and got stuck there, a provincial official said.
“Foolish” and “ill-advised.” Thus spoke Senator Ralph Recto as he described an administration ally’s call to boycott all China-made products, saying the Philippines should instead increase its trade relations with China. “The country’s trade with China is bigger than the United States (US),” he said. “ Boycotting everything ‘Made In China’ is foolish and ill-advised,” [...]
LUCENA CITY—The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) is gearing up for court battles against environmental criminals with the help of an army of volunteer lawyers from the private sector. Director Asis Perez said he had received many offers of legal assistance from fellow lawyers in and out of the country following the recent [...]
Two days of inspections of warehouses and buying stations of a Zamboanga-based trading company have yielded such a large stash of protected corals, shells and other marine species that 20 container vans were not enough to hold them, the head of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said here Saturday.
DECADES of overfishing and government neglect are to blame for the near eradication of the Philippines’ coral reefs which now threatens country’s ecological balance and food security, said Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)—Philippines. Tan said the government has failed to enforce its marine laws. According to WWF, [...]
MANILA, Philippines—Decades of over-fishing and government neglect are to blame for the near eradication of the Philippines’ coral reefs, which now threatens the country’s ecological balance and food security, according to Jose Ma. Lorenzo Tan, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)–Philippines. Tan claimed that the government has failed to enforce its marine [...]
The havoc wrought by poachers on coral reefs off South Cotabato is “much worse” than earlier estimated, according to a ranking environment official. Theresa Mondita Lim, director of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), said yesterday that the damaged area could reach “almost five times the [...]
