Philippines bans fishing to revive biggest reef

[jpak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSMAN32716420071002

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has tightened laws banning fishing and collecting of species on the country's largest coral reef to help it recover from near destruction, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature said on Tuesday.

The 27,400 hectare Apo Reef off the coast of Mindoro island was almost drained of life by heavy fishing, including by dynamite and cyanide, which left only a third of coral cover by the early 1990s.

A ban on fishing, only partially enforced since it took effect in 1994, has helped restore some of the reef so that around half is now alive. Now a new local law, brought in this week, is stepping up protection in what was once of the world's top dive spots.

"It has been declared a 'no-take zone' to allow the reef and the various species around it ample time to recover from years of fishing," said Gregg Yan of the World Wildlife Fund-Philippines.

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[kestrel91316]

1. The cyanide was used to catch fish for the saltwater aquarium trade.

IIRC the mortality rate was over 90%.

One reason why I only ever had freshwater aquariums......

[PearliePoo2]

2. It's heartening to see this happen

Many of the world's great reefs are dying from various reasons. Rising sea temps from global warming are also cooking many of them to death.
If you go to the REUTERS link to read the rest of the article, you'll see an accompanying picture of a fisherman delivering his fish to a coastal market south of Manila.
Remind me not to ever ever buy seafood from the Philippines.
The seaport pictured there is a fucking floating garbage dump. :puke:
It's not too hard to understand how pollution is killing the oceans, a picture says a thousand words here.
Man, talk about fouling your own nest.......