The Use and Abuse of Sea Resources

As a maritime country, the Philippines is a place of high fish consumption. Many coastal villages are populated by fishermen, who are amongst the poorest of working Filipinos. International comparisons show that the Philippine fisheries sector is mostly characterized by small inefficient fishing vessels, while some of the fishing methods are extremely destructive to the resource. Today, fishing moratoriums must be imposed in some areas to allow the reproduction of the fish. Poaching and illegal fisheries, including by foreign vessels, especially from China, plague the most important fisheries areas. Aquaculture has developed to counterbalance the decline of the natural resource, but it has negative ecological effects, among them the disappearance of mangroves. Today, efforts are underway to protect the marine resources of the country, through the implementation of Marine Protected Areas in this biologically rich area of the West Pacific. Part of the ``Coral Triangle'' initiative, the Republic of the Philippines encourages local efforts to rejuvenate coral reefs and mangroves, while allowing tourism to cohabit with more established uses of the coastal areas of the archipelago.