Volunteers clean Lapu beaches, reefs

Hundreds of volunteers joined in the coastal and underwater clean-up in Lapu-Lapu City to mark Coral Triangle Day yesterday.

Afew hours after combing the beaches of barangays Pajo, Buaya and Kalawisan  and the coral reefs of barangays Maribago and Marigondon, the divers collected over a hundred sacks of trash, mostly plastics were recovered.

The recovered garbage was lesser compared to the volume they collected last year said Edmundo Arregadas, chief of the Coastal and Marine Division of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – 7 (DENR).

He attributed the decrease to heightened awareness on proper waste disposal.

Arregadas, who was with more than hundred divers plunged into the waters in barangay Maribago and Marigondon. Among the underwater areas cleaned was the Kontiki Wall off the coast of Maribago.

Most of the garbage they collected were plastic food wrappers.

He advised that in order to save the marine environment, tourist should be oriented thoroughly on proper waste disposal before boarding tourist boats, and for authorities to implement regulations in solid waste disposal.

Hundreds of sacks of garbage was recovered in the coastal clean-up said Roderico Tagaan, head of the Lapu-Lapu City Environment and Natural Resources Office (Cenro).

“The  garbage is not just from Lapu-Lapu City. Most of the trash came from the waters of Mandaue and Cebu cities, Liloan town,” Tagaan said.

The Coral Triangle  refers to the roughly triangular shape of marine waters between the Pacific and Indian oceans that has the highest concentration of marine life in the planet. It covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.

The Philippines is considered to be the heart of the Coral Triangle. The country has one of the most bio-diverse coral reefs in the world, but the state of this important coastal and marine habitat has become very fragile because of human exploitation. /Joy Cherry Quito, Correspondent