Global warming kills fish; mangroves needed

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines - If ranked as to scope and magnitude, rising sea levels and temperature would be the most calamitous consequences should unmitigated worst-case scenario-global warming hits South East Asia. This was in a scientific study presented by Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Negros office chief Allan Francis Dara-ug as per the findings of Dr. Rafael Guerrero III, executive director of the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development (PCAMRD). PCAMRD is a sectoral council of the DOST. It works with the country's fish sector to help it adapt to the changes brought about by global warming. In his paper, Guerrero also explained " extreme climatic events such as droughts, severe cyclones, and floods." He clarified, however, that climatic changes affecting the fisheries sector would affect the entire nation considering that fish is a staple food and millions depend on it for livelihood. Guerrero explained that in key areas in the country, coral reefs are already threatened by carbon dioxide concentration resulting in acidification of seawater. Guerrero's paper also claimed that Philippine sea surface temperature had been increasing, causing "bleaching in corals and deleterious effects on reef accretion, exterminating sea biodiversity." In other studies provided by Dara-ug of DOST-Negros, the decrease in the productivity of the seas surrounding the archipelago is co-related to sudden changes in temperatures. United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) head Achim Steiner detailed their findings of how sea temperature had affected 2.6 billion people dependent on fish for protein needs. "This study should have included the Philippines as a matter of methodology which UN studies are formulated," Dara-ug said. The "alarm bells" were sounded, Dara-ug said, and the solutions based on Guerrero's paper stated primarily, among others, a 100-meter mangrove plantation from the shoreline going inland. Mangrove reforestation is about the only means to mitigate sea rising temperature, he said. "The problem is that Bacolod is not even interested in cleaning its shoreline, how much more reforesting it with mangroves?" Ramon Jamelo, a veteran fish dealer in Barangay 2, earlier said. - Sun.Star