Coral reef assessment ongoing.
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) are working on a coral reef assessment throughout the country to create a National Coral Reef Status next year.
Philippine Association of Marine Science Officer Dr. Cleto Nañola, in an interview, said the project started this year by various marine biologists and personnel from DENR, aiming to come up with a national status of coral reefs in the country using one methodology.
Nañola said the country already has numbers of coral reef surveys yet researchers used different survey procedures, resulting to distinctive results.
"It is important to have a uniform coral reef assessment to see and compare accurately the condition and number of functional coral reefs we have in the country," Nañola said.
However, there are also small coral reef systems left but still needs to be assessed to provide them proper protection.
He added that only 20 percent of all coral reef systems in the country are alive.
The 80 percent dead coral system is mostly due to illegal fishing and water pollution that has caused coral reef bleaching.
"This National Coral Reef Status survey will help us determine if there are new and existing coral system we have not yet discovered to establish a bigger protection to all coral reefs we have," he said.
The protection of coral reefs, he added, is important as most of the fishes Filipinos consume are stone fishes living in coral reefs.