Download Southeast Asia`s Seas:global treasures of biodiversity—in peril

Ocean Defender Tour of Southeast Asia 2013
Indonesia – Thailand – Philippines
May-July 2013
Southeast Asia’s Seas: global treasures of biodiversity—in peril
Southeast Asia’s marine ecosystems are among the world’s richest—and the most threatened. The region is
home to the Coral Triangle, one of the most important global centers of marine biodiversity. These waters
are home to at least 500 known species of corals (around 75% of the known global total), and at least 3,000
known species of reef fishes (around 40% of the known global total).
Around 350 million people (more than half of the region’s total population) live within 50 kilometers of the
sea. And more than 100 million people in Indonesia and the Philippines rely on the sea for food and
livelihood. But the very seas that provide these people subsistence are under serious threat. Southeast
Asia’s seas are in crisis. Important fragile marine ecosystems in the region are being destroyed at an
alarming rate. Overfishing and destructive fishing activities are depleting our sea’s resources without giving
it time to recover. Pollution is suffocating what were once pristine waters, while rising temperatures due to
climate change are killing corals and causing ocean acidification.
Local threats—like illegal fishing and overfishing—are putting 85% of reefs within the Coral Triangle Region
at risk. This is substantially higher compared to the global average of 60%. Watershed-based pollution is
also pervasive, threatening 45% of reefs. Impacts from coastal development threaten more than 30% of the
region’s reefs. In short, Southeast Asia’s oceans are heavily damaged and severely exploited and
overfished.
Overfishing and collapse of the fish stocks of Southeast Asia threaten the food security of the region.
Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand are major fishing countries and thus have a stake in preserving the
oceans.
It is against this backdrop that GPSEA is launching its oceans campaign. The campaign seeks to preserve and
rehabilitate the region’s oceans by calling on governments for better marine resource policies and their
strong implementation, focusing initially on fisheries policies.
Since Southeast Asia is globally significant as a center for biodiversity, any effort to preserve the marine
resources within the region will provide a significant contribution to the larger effort to save our oceans
globally.
What’s destroying our Oceans?
Unsustainable Industrial Fishing: Emptying our Seas
Unsustainable commercial fishing activities are a key threat faced by our seas. Overfishing and destructive
fishing particularly illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) by commercial fishing fleets
throughout the region is seen as a major problem undermining conservation efforts. In fact, many marine
ecologists think that the biggest single threat to marine ecosystems today is overfishing.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics for 1950–2006, the first global overview of
marine fisheries resources by country, confirmed that, globally, the maximum average level of bottom fish
and small pelagic fish production had been reached within the last decade. The FAO data on fish catch
show that around 80% of the world’s fish catch comes from fully exploited, over exploited, or depleted fish
stocks. This indicates that industrial fishing fleets have exceeded the ocean's ecological limits. Simply put,
more and more people are competing for less and less fish and worsening the existing oceans crisis.
Overfishing is also the most pervasive threat to reef health, putting 64% of the Southeast Asia’s reefs at
risk. Although some remote reefs remain in pristine condition, destructive fishing practices are now
threatening many of them.
Climate Change: Altering our Oceans
Carbon emissions on land are also damaging our marine life. Climate change, caused by burning fossil fuels,
is increasing sea water temperatures and acidity, melting glaciers, raising sea levels, and changing ocean
currents. The effects are already beginning to be felt. Whole species of marine species are at risk due to
temperature rise—they simply cannot survive the changed conditions. Increased water temperatures are
responsible for large areas and episodes of coral bleaching where corals turn white and eventually die.
Southeast Asia experienced its worst massive coral bleaching in the latter half of 2010. The widespread
thermal stress left reefs across SEA, particularly in Burma, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and the
Philippines, dead or dying. Prior to that, the worst bleaching event in the region (and globally) was in 1998,
which left 16% of the world’s corals severely damaged.
The bases of the marine food supply, plankton and krill, are also already being adversely affected by the
temperature changes, a process which is akin to pulling the rug out from under the entire food chain.
Meanwhile, carbon emissions which cause global warming also end up at sea and turn sea water acidic. The
phenomenon, called ocean acidification, impairs the ability of corals, mollusks, plankton and other sea
creatures to build their calcium carbonate shells or skeletons. Lower calcification rates affect the growth
and strength of corals and can cause the populations of plankton—a vital base in the marine food chain—to
decline.
Pollution: Unacceptable Ocean Dumping
Another significant impact of human activity on the marine environment is pollution. Almost half of the
pollution found at sea comes from the land. Aside from oil spills, pollution comes in the form of domestic
sewage, industrial discharges, urban and industrial run-off, accidents, spillage, explosions, sea dumping
operations, mining, agricultural run-offs and pesticides, waste heat sources and radioactive discharges.
Coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds are also being destroyed by sedimentation from land, as well as
declining water quality.
Plastics and other solid wastes also often end up floating in our seas. It can take up to 1,000 years for
plastic to break down in the water and it is often found embedded in the skin or stomachs of birds, fish and
marine mammals. Even a tiny cigarette can take two years to break down.
For more information:
Vince Cinches, Oceans Campaigner, +63 917-5363754, [email protected]
Vigie Benosa-Llorin, Media Campaigner, + 63 917-8228793, [email protected]
Check our website: www.greenpeace.org.ph/oceans
Like us: facebook.com/greenpeace.philippines
Follow us: Twitter @gpph
Sign up as an Ocean Defender: www.defendouroceans.org