Yahoo News 24 May 08;
Coral reefs in the disputed Spratlys island chain in the South China Sea are either dead or dying due to destructive fishing, a study by Philippine biologists has said.
Use of dynamite and cyanide in fishing has destroyed most coral reefs around Pag-asa, a Spratly island occupied by Philippine forces, the scientists told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday.
Residents of Pag-asa, also known as Thitu island, blame Vietnamese and Chinese fishermen for the destruction, said marine biologist Ben Gonzales of the Western Philippines University.
Gonzales led a team from the university on a two-week survey around Pag-asa island earlier this month.
"The unabated use of cyanide fishing has destroyed the coral reefs around by Pag-asa island alone by over 60 percent," he said.
Gonzales said that at Pag-asa, the second largest of the Spratly islands, he saw Filipino soldiers prevent fishermen from getting too close to land but did not stopping them from using air compressors to catch fish.
Cyanide is used by diving fishermen to stun fish and catch them live for a higher commercial value, while compressors blow air into the corals, frightening fish out of their hiding places.
Both methods are highly destructive to corals.
"It is still a productive area for fishing but it is now increasingly being destroyed because there are no regulations," to govern fishing, Gonzales was quoted as saying.
The Spratlys, a chain of islands and atolls -- believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits -- are claimed in full or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. All but Brunei have troops posted on some of the islands.
