An index launched in February this year scores countries according to their degree of exposure to and quality of response towards illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing. Out of the 152 coastal states assessed worldwide, the Philippines is among the countries with the highest illegal fishing index. Within the global center for marine biodiversity and the…
Category: Issues
The Chain of Issues on China’s Exploitation of Giant Clams in the West Philippine Sea
Following China’s claim to parts of the West Philippine Sea, Chinese fishermen have been long reported of exploiting the natural resources of the Philippine waters. There are even reports that Chinese fishermen and coast guards are harassing Filipino fishermen by taking their catches and disallowing them to enter the fishing grounds. There is a long…
BEWARE: Manila Bay is still NOT CLEAN
Photos are going around online showing many people visiting the Manila Bay area after the major clean-up activity performed last January 2019. This is quite alarming because people should be aware that the bay is still not ‘clean’ and poses certain health risks. It may appear to be tidier than before but it’s still critically…
Philippines’ Export of Marine Ornamental Fishes – A Boon to the Economy but a Threat to Biodiversity
The Philippines began exporting marine ornamental fishes around the decade of the 1950s and ever since has been one of the major countries supplying marine wild-caught fish around the globe along with countries such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Though having to export marine fishes for a very long time, the Philippines only started generating…
Life on Land: The Antecedents of Land Degradation
One of mankind’s most precious asset and usually overlooked is the ‘land’. But come to think of it, the land is the life source that provides us and our environment with important ecosystem services. It gives us food and shelter and it also holds the treasure of other important resources like oils, minerals, freshwater, and…
The Exportation Trade of Shark Fins in the Philippines
Sharks belong to the class of cartilaginous fishes called the Chondrichthyes in which other animals includes like Stingrays, Batoids, Chimaeras, and Sawfishes. Chondrichthyans has various socio-economic purposes and distinctively, these fishes provide meat and shark fins for human consumption [1]. A common delicacy using shark fins is the shark fin soup that became an important Chinese…
Import Risk Analysis: Live Pacific White Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) transported from Thailand to the Philippines for Aquaculture
STATUS OF OIE-LISTED CRUSTACEAN DISEASES IN THAILAND Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease Outbreaks of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) of shrimp began in China in 2009 and spread sequentially to Vietnam (2010), Malaysia (2011), Thailand (2012), and Mexico (Thitamadee et al., 2015). Species susceptible to AHPND include giant tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) and whiteleg shrimp (P….
Live Pacific White Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) : Status of OIE-listed Crustacean Diseases in Thailand
The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) is an international organization that establishes a single OIE list of notifiable terrestrial and aquatic animals diseases. These diseases are classified as specific hazards and given the same degree of importance in the international trade. The following are the general status of OIE-listed crustacean diseases in Thailand which…
Overfishing: The Exportation Trade of Philippine “Ornamental Fishes”
Above-written is a Filipino folk song about a fisherman named Felimon/Pilemon who once went fishing to the ocean and was able to catch only a small fish called Tambasakan (a Visayan local name for goby/mudskipper fish). He sold the fish to the market but the fish is awfully cheap that from the money he got…
