Friday, March 30, 2007 P4B city floodway project risks rare mangrove By Kram Pagayon
THE National Government and Iloilo City's multi-billion floodway control project along the city's winding river poses danger to at least 25 variety of mangrove, including a rare specie called Obata, the City Agriculturist's Office said.
According to City Agriculturist Gil Parreñas, the rare Obata specie, named after a Japanese biologist, grows along the Dungon Creek and nearby areas.
He said that the hard-to-grow Obata mangrove specie is home for crabs, fish and shrimps. It's interlacing roots serve as breeding grounds for shrimps and fingerlings as they protect them from bigger fish and predators.
Parreñas said that the 4.7-kilometer floodway project will directly affect all mangroves along the riverside of Aganan, Pavia to Balabago-Bitoon in Jaro, and out to the sea.
Parreñas stressed there are more than 3,000 mangrove plants along the Iloilo River. Moreover, of the 35 species of mangroves in the country alone, 25 are found in the mangrove areas of the city, including in the Balabago area, where a giant box culvert is currently under construction.
He pointed out that mangroves growing along the riverbanks take years to grow, more so the Obata. Some specie could only produce a handful of seedlings every year. Mangroves are ideal nursery for baby fish where they can feed from the vast buffet of plants and small creatures encrusting the roots and floating in the rich waters.
He explained that the death of the lust mangrove forest along these areas is inevitable as they are along the way of the P4.2 billion floodway control mega-structure. The same project also has phases intended for the improvement of the Tigum and Aganan rivers - home to hectares of full-grown mangroves.
Parreñas, however, is not losing hope, especially for the Obata. He will work for ways to save the affected mangroves by transplanting them in Barangay Bito-on, Jaro. Although roots of full-grown mangroves could maze for meters below the ground, he is undeterred. He points that it maybe uprooted using special methods, even backhoes. It remains to be seen.
Parreñas also discouraged people to cut the mangroves as charcoal, which, almost too often, are turned into improvised Christmas trees by yearend.
Ultimate solutions, however, include a mangrove reforestations and nurseries for future transplanting.
Earlier, Panay Power Corporation (PPC) plans to donate P1 million to city government for mangrove reforestation project. But the project is yet to proceed as the election period begins.
The floodway project is funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Its expected completion date is on March 2009.
