Thursday, January 31, 2008 Speak out: Cetaceans missing in Tañon Strait By ....
THE Tañon Strait protected seascape is critical habitat of 14 of 27 cetacean species recorded in the Philippines.
Water around the Batanes/Babuyan groups of islands in northern Luzon is the only other place that has 14 cetacean species.
But the Batanes area is surrounded by a large body of water fed by the productive Kurushio current, compared with the very narrow waters in Tañon Strait.
Oil exploration activities in Tañon Strait have most probably threatened the populations of cetaceans in the area.
This was indicated by the very few numbers of species sighted by researchers from Silliman University and Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management (Suakcrem) last December 2007.
Only two species, spinner and common bottlenose dolphins, were sighted from Dec. 11 – 15, 2007.
The team covered an area of 2,482 square kilometers from Dumaguete to San Carlos in Negros and from Santander to Toledo in Cebu using crisscrossing transects.
Out of such effort only 28 spinner dolphins were sighted per 1,000 kilometers search area.
Population
Based on the transect surveys of Dr. Dolar conducted in 1994, the estimated population of spinners in the entire Tañon Strait is about 3,500.
This is well validated by the photo identification study of Lemnuel V. Aragones, et. al. that showed an estimated 1,300 spinners in the southern section of the Strait alone in 2005.
In 2005, Japex conducted their seismic surveys for the initial stages of the oil exploration in Tañon Strait.
In that same year, Aragones and his colleagues recorded changes in the surface behavior of the nocturnal (nighttime feeder) spinner dolphins.
The spinners became unusually inactive, as opposed to their usually active behavior in the afternoon just before they fed.
Likewise, the same group found that the relative abundance of the spinners declined a year after the seismic surveys, showing that the activity did not only have immediate negative impacts on this cetacean specie but also had delayed negative effects.
This implies that the individual animals may have been negatively affected by the seismic sounds.
Noise
Note that most cetaceans, like spinner dolphins, use sounds for their navigation, feeding and breeding purposes.
Just imagine the unusual loud sound being produced by this oil exploration in this area where the cetaceans have lived in serenity before.
In November 2007, a 60-day permit was awarded by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to Japex to conduct exploratory oil drilling.
An extension of another four days was given to the firm after it argued that it encountered technical problems associated with the drilling.
However, it is very sad to learn that the Department of Energy and DENR claimed zero negative impact of the oil exploration on the marine ecosystem in Tañon Strait (as reported in the papers a week ago).
We would like to ask DENR to reconsider such extension and that we undergo an urgent transparent review of the whole Environmental Impact Assessment process for this activity as soon as possible.
(The statement was signed by Lemnuel V. Aragones of UP-Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology; Angel C. Alcala and Portia Joy Nillos-Kleiven of the Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management; Edna Sabater of Silliman University; officers of the Philippine Association of Marine Science; Ruth Gamboa of UP Mindanao; Grace Bacaltos of the Southern Philippines Agribusiness Marine and Aquatic School of Technology; Rommi Dizon of UP MSI; Willy Campos of UP Visayas; and Sony de Guzman of Mindanao State University)
