MARINE conservation groups vowed to oppose a reclamation project that the Toledo City Government wants to implement off Barangay Poblacion.
Divers of Sea Knights and Oceana Philippines found sea grass beds, juvenile fishes and a sea horse despite the heavily silted waters off Barangay Poblacion, Toledo City.
The divers, however, did not find corals in the site of the proposed 11-hectare reclamation project, which faces the protected Tañon Strait.
But Danny Ocampo of Oceana Philippines said this should not be used to justify the reclamation project.
“The reclamation project will have a long-lasting negative impact on the Tañon Strait and our fisheries,” he told reporters after an underwater assessment off Poblacion, Toledo City yesterday.
Lawyer Joan Dulhao, Sea Knights vice president, said that sea grass beds are important to fisheries because they provide food and shelter to juvenile fish.
Ocampo said the findings of the assessment raises the need to rehabilitate the marine ecosystem in the area.
Ocampo said Oceana will use its resources to oppose the reclamation project.
“The dolphins have spoken. We will be the voice of the sea horses,” said Fr. Tito Soquiño, OSA.
Soquiño was referring to a case filed against an energy development project by conservationists on behalf of dolphins in the Tañon Strait.
A Supreme Court decision declared the energy development project unconstitutional, noting that it should have obtained an environmental compliance certificate.