Bigger crane ship arriving to help remove US minesweeper

MANILA, Philippines - A bigger crane ship is expected to arrive to help extricate the US Navy minesweeper that ran aground in Tubbataha Reef, Coast Guard commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena said  yesterday.

The M/T Jascon, which may arrive next week, will lift the heavy section of the grounded USS Guardian, Isorena said.

Even without the M/T Jascon, those salvaging the minesweeper can start removing its upper deck, mast and smokestack, he added. Coast Guard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said it would take six days for the M/T Jascon to sail from Singapore to Puerto Princesa, and then proceed to Tubbataha.

“What’s good about the M/T Jascon is that it has a dynamic positioning system. This means that it has the character to stabilize itself even if there is no anchor,” Balilo added.

The Singapore vessel Smit Borneo is currently at the site and can lift smaller pieces weighing 500 tons that have been chopped off from the Guardian.

The US Navy has hired the services of salvaging ships M/T Trabajador 1 of Malayan Towage and Salvaging Corp. and the Vos Apollo of a Malaysian company based in Singapore to assist the Smit Borneo in the task. The US Navy’s USNS Salvor is also at the site.

Authorities began salvaging operations Wednesday to remove the 68-meter-long Guardian from the reef.

The US Navy minesweeper ran aground on Jan. 17, destroying at least 1,000 square meters of coral reefs.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared Tubbataha Reef a World Heritage Site in December 1993.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST)has formed a team to help in the rehabilitation of the damaged parts of the reef.

Science Secretary Mario Montejo said the DOST’s restoration team is ready to assist in rehabilitating the damaged parts of the reef.

“We share the pain felt by everyone upon seeing the ship grounded on the reef. But yes, we can do something. We have the technology to help rehabilitate and repair the damage to the coral reef in Tubbataha,” Montejo told The STAR.

The DOST technology involves gathering coral materials from damaged reefs, cultivating them in nurseries and transplanting them back to repopulate the reefs.   

The DOST’s Coral Reef Restoration Program Team is led by Filipina Sotto of the University of San Carlos in Cebu and Filemon Romero of the Mindanao State University Tawi-Tawi campus.

The team is composed of scientists from the University of the Philippines - Marine Science Institute and Bicol University.  

Montejo said the DOST, in partnership with the Philippine Association on Underwater Activities, has conducted the first underwater scientific diving and coral restoration training in Antique.

He said the first batch of certified scientific divers on coral reef restoration will complete the underwater course on Sunday.

The trainees included members of the Philippine Army, Philippine National Police and the local Bantay Dagat – a non-government organization.

“We hope to tap these certified divers in the Tubbataha rehab efforts,” Montejo said.

Cesar Pagdilao, deputy director of the DOST’s Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD), said the rehabilitation of the corals must be done immediately “while the corals are still fresh.”

Pagdilao said it would take 50 years for the coral reef to recover, adding that the average growth per year is one centimeter.

The DOST’s Coral Reef Restoration Program, which started in 2011, is one of the major aquamarine programs of the agency.

The DOST has expanded the program and is now maintaining 12 coral nurseries across the country.

Some of these locations are in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Laiya in San Juan, Batangas and Anilao in Mabini, Batangas; Ticao Islands, Masbate; Panglao, Bohol; Boracay in Malay, Aklan; Pangal-an, Aklan and Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte. Other pilot areas are located in Bataan, Subic and Zambales.

One of the pilot coral nursery site is located in Anini-y, Antique. – With Helen Flores