EDITORIAL – Can we protect Tubbataha?

These poachers didn’t get away: 30 fishermen from Hong Kong were apprehended last Thursday by Coast Guard and civilian security personnel when their fishing vessel entered the Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park.

For every vessel apprehended, however, how many others manage to get away? Poachers, most of them Chinese, have often been apprehended in the South China Sea off the western coast of Palawan, their vessels laden with endangered species including sea turtles — a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. Some of the poachers can be forgiven for failure to recognize the boundaries of each country’s 200-mile special economic zone after several days of wandering around in the high seas.

But Tubbataha is in the Sulu Sea, surrounded by the islands of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Anyone entering that sea has to know that he has wandered far from the territorial waters of Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland.

Tubbataha is a national treasure; the biodiversity in the marine reserve is one of the highest in the world. To preserve the reef, fishing and regular tourism activities have been banned within the marine reserve. But protecting Tubbataha will require more aggressive measures. Are the country’s environmental cops up to the task?

The zeal may be there but the resources are limited. The Navy and Coast Guard suffer from an acute lack of ships to patrol the archipelago’s extensive coastline. In the Sulu Sea and nearby waters, the Philippine military is focused on finding two Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists and Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani. Where there are ships, the Navy and Coast Guard lack fuel. When Abu Sayyaf bandits raided an island resort in Palawan and grabbed hostages, they sailed across the Sulu Sea for several days on a motorized boat, docking in Basilan without being challenged by the military.

If Abu Sayyaf thugs can get away with kidnapping in the Sulu Sea, it should be even easier for poachers to enter resource-rich Tubbataha. The nation needs to step up its vigilance. If resources are lacking, the government must seek assistance from external sources.