INTRODUCTION

The future of the Marine Resources are intimately linked with the

consumption of the people and how they preserve it. Humankind has

been dependent with the sea and utilized its services more often to these

days. People were drawn to the oceans, for the coasts offer many benefits to

the local communities. But with the world’s population rapidly increasing,

many people are starting to worry about the future of the oceans. How can

people achieve to balance the conservation and use?. Is development

towards sustainable use of marine resources be possible?

Fish, shellfish, and algae are resources that regenerate quickly and can in

principle be exploited sustainably, provided that their habitats are secure

and harvesting regulating to fishing.

However, mineral and energy resources remains in the sea to allow

reproduction these form over many millions of years, and there is only a

finite amount of these resources available for future generations. What’s

more, they often lie hundreds of metres under the seabed and can only be

extracted with complex technology. There is also a fear that ocean warming

will release large quantities of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from the

deep seas into the atmosphere.

 BODY

Marine Resources of the Philippines

Marine resources are those found in the coastal zone. Republic Act 8550
(Fisheries Code) defines the coastal zone as a "band of dry land and
adjacent open space (water submerged land in which terrestrial processes
and uses directly affect oceanic processes and uses, and vice versa; its
geographic extent may include areas within a landmark limit of 1 km from
the shoreline at high tide to include mangroves, swamps, brackish water
ponds, nipa swamps, estuarine rivers, sandy beaches, and other areas with
a seaward limit of 200 m isobath to include coral reefs, algal flats, seagrass
beds, and other soft-bottom areas (RA 8550).

Coral Reefs in the Philippines

The coral reef area in the Philippines is one of the largest in the world,
covering 27,000 sq. km. Unfortunately, these areas have been degraded
over the past years. In comparing the status of coral reefs in some areas in
the country between 1981-1991, Gomez (1991) reports that excellent reef
conditions were found in Negros Oriental, Zamboanga del Norte and Aliguay
Island in this province.

Seagrasses and Seaweeds in the Philippines

A total of 1,384 individuals and 55 species from 25 fish families have been
identified from five seagrass sites in the Philippines alone (Fortes, 1998).
This is considered the highest number in the Indo-Pacific region and the
second highest worldwide, second only to Australia. Seagrass beds in the
country support at least 172 species of fish, 46 species of invertebrate, 51
species of seaweeds, 45 species of algal epiphytes, 1 sea turtle and 1
species of dugong. They are valued mainly for their role as fish nursery
areas and as foraging grounds for fish and others (Fortes, 1998; UNEP,
1997; www.oneocean.org).

Fisheries and the Philippine Economy

The country’s population is 69 million (76 million in 2001) with an annual

growth rate of 2.3% (Instituto del Tercer Mundo, 1999). About 80% of the
country’s provinces, two-thirds of its municipalities and 17 of its 25 largest
cities are located in the coastal areas. An estimated 55% of the entire
population resides in these areas. There are 806,929 people involved in the
fishing industry, which is approximately 5% of the country’s labour force. A
majority of these people (68%) are involved in municipal fisheries. The
aquaculture sector employs 26% of this number while commercial fishery
employs the remaining 6% (ibid). Some studies show that there may be an
even higher number of people dependent on municipal fisheries. The
National Statistics Office, for example, report that there are 500,000 families
whose main source of income is fishing (cited in Quicho, Mislang & Batay-an,
1999). Multiplying this with 5, which is the average number of
persons/family, it may be deduced that there are at least 3 million people
dependent on fishing. Unfortunately, a more precise and deliberate
accounting of the number of people involved in the fishing industry and the
number of people dependent on municipal fishing does not exist. This Extent
of poverty in the aquatic resource sector (Philippines) 10 of 135 may be due
to the fact that such task is difficult considering the multiplicity of livelihood
sources in communities. Fishers after all are also usually farmers or at times,
labourers too. According to BFAR, the Philippines ranks 14th among the 52
top-producing countries in 1997 and 11th in the world aquaculture
production of fish and shellfish. The country is also the 3rd biggest producer
of seaweeds in 1997, contributing 0.627 million mt or 9.3% of the world’s
seaweed production.

Oil and Gas from the Sea

Offshore gas and oil production began more than a century ago. With many
shallow water fields already exhausted, these natural resources are now
being extracted at ever greater depths. Production rates are higher than
ever, while oil pollution is decreasing. One of the pioneers of offshore oil
production was industrialist Henry L. Williams, who began extracting oil from
the Summerland field off the Californian coast near Santa Barbara in the
1890s. His first oil rigs were built on dry land, but in 1896, he finally
ventured offshore, constructing a 100-metre pier from which he began
drilling on the seafloor. Today, energy production still largely relies on the
burning of fossil fuels: natural gas, oil and coal. The early oil industry
pioneers probably never imagined, even in their wildest dreams, just how
much of their commodity humankind would ultimately burn or utilise for
industrial purposes. Our modern world is almost entirely dependent on fossil
inputs. We need them for heating and electricity generation, and of course to
fuel our cars, railways, aircraft and shipping. Today, there are more than one
billion vehicles – cars, buses and trucks – on the world’s roads, burning vast
quantities of petrol and diesel.

Producing Natural Gas and Mineral Oil

Throughout the Earth’s history, natural gas and mineral oil have formed from
the remains of marine algae and land plants, with large deposits
accumulating In certain rock strata. Today, using modern drilling techniques
and giant platforms, these resources are being extracted from ever greater
depths. Production systems are even being installed on the seafloor.
Natural gas and oil form over hundreds of millions of years from dead
organic material that has accumulated on the bottoms of seas, lakes and
swamps. Oil is formed primarily from dead microalgae, or phytoplankton,
while coal and natural gas derive mainly from land plants. Especially large
amounts of biomass accumulate in warm regions with lush vegetation or
prolific algal growth.

Coastal Oceans, Habitats, and Species

Changing climate is also affecting our oceans. Changing temperature and the
increasing level of acidity in ocean water impact reefs and fisheries. As
temperatures change, we see many species move. Southern fish species are
now caught farther north of their typical ranges. Recreational anglers and
commercial fishermen are already shifting what they catch. Mangrove trees
from tropical regions are moving north to subtropical areas. As sea level
rises, coastal marshes are shifting inland, trying to keep up with the
changing environment. Movement of marshes inland can also erode nearby
land and put homes and other development at risk. Sea level may be rising
faster than many habitats can move. In the case of saltmarsh, the coastal
marsh may drown and the nursery habitat it provides could be lost. Rising
ocean temperatures increase the rate at which carbon dioxide (CO2 ) is
absorbed into the ocean. While this removes the greenhouse gas from the
atmosphere, as CO2 is absorbed by ocean and coastal waters, it increases
the acidity.

Stormwater

More runoff increases the possibility of hypoxic events, the depletion of

dissolved oxygen in water, in our coastal waters. Like humans, aquatic and
marine organisms need oxygen to breathe. Hypoxic events are typically
linked to the buildup of nutrients from chemicals, like those in fertilizer, pet
and wildlife waste, and other materials that run off during storms. Algae
grows in large quantities as a result of excess nutrients and then is
consumed by bacteria that use the oxygen in the water. An example of such
events was seen in Long Bay in Horry County in 2004 and 2009 where
hypoxia led to large-scale fish kills. Humans can mitigate these occurrences
by limiting fertilizer use and reducing storm runoff. Until other solutions are
found, runoff will continue to increase as our population rises and the coast
continues to develop. Earlier we touched on the issue of drought and
extreme rain. We learned that too little rain can be every bit as problematic
as too much, Fish killed as a result of hypoxic water conditions caused by
algal blooms. NOAA (2017) Coastal Habitat Stormwater Our Living Marine
Resources particularly as it affects the balance of salt and freshwater, also
known as salinity. One particular impact is that increased periods of drought
can lead to increased salinity in estuaries and hinder important fisheries. For
example, blue crabs are more vulnerable to diseases in high salinity waters.
Moreover, increased salinity can have varying impacts on our marine species
as much as decreased salinity due to excessive runoff.

Ocean mining – not a gold rush but an option

For decades people have been extracting mineral resources from the sea,
including diamonds off Namibia or sand from the coastal areas of Europe for
filling depleted beaches. In Europe alone around 93 million tonnes of sand
are extracted from the sea each year – a quantity which equals the volume
of 37 Cheops Pyramids.
Governments and industrial corporations plan to produce even more from
the sea in the coming decades. Specifically, they aim to extract hundreds of
millions of tonnes of metal-bearing minerals that are found on the sea floor
in 3 forms: firstly, as potato-sized manganese nodules; secondly, as hard
coatings on the flanks of undersea volcanoes called cobalt crusts; and
thirdly, as massive deposits that have formed at hot, mineral-rich deep-sea
vents known as massive sulphides.
These resources are of interest because they contain large amounts of
economically interesting metals, some of which greatly exceed the known
amounts in deposits on land. The manganese nodules in the Pacific
manganese nodule area of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone alone contain around
5 billion tonnes of manganese, which is some 10 times as much as the
economically minable deposits on land today. Many of the marine metal
occurrences have been known since the 1970s. Even then manganese
nodules were excavated from the Pacific in pilot projects. For a long time
mining of the sea floor remained unattractive because there were enough
resources on land and metal prices were relatively low. But in the past
decade, mainly due to growing demand in the newly industrializing
countries, especially in China, prices have risen strongly.
Marine mining is interesting for various reasons. For one, demand for
chemical elements contained in the marine deposits is rising because of new
high-tech applications such as smartphones. For another, many of these
elements are only mined in a few countries. China, in particular, has a
dominant market position. Many states would therefore like to secure their
own claims on the seafloor. It is problematic that many hundreds of square
kilometres of seabed will be negatively impacted by ocean mining. Marine
biologists are concerned that mining will destroy deep-sea habitats. To
prevent a gold rush in the ocean, the International Seabed Authority (ISA)
was established in Jamaica in 1994. It awards licence areas in international
waters to interested states and ensures that developing countries will also be
able to share in the benefits. In addition, the Authority has negotiated
regulations for the protection of deep-sea environments. Licence areas
cannot be completely mined out. Some areas have to remain untouched so
that they can contribute to the recolonization of the mined areas.
To what extent, or whether at all the mining of the sea will develop is still
uncertain. No mining equipment suited to the task is available yet, and some
metal prices, after an interlude of extreme increases, have dropped again,
so that deep-sea mining now appears less economical. However, some
200-nautical-mile zones, where the ISA is not responsible, are still thought
to be promising. Within these zones the coastal states decide for themselves
when and under what environmental and safety standards metals are
extracted. Of particular interest are the 200-nautical-mile zone of Papua New
Guinea, where massive sulphides with high gold and silver contents are
found, and the Cook Islands, where cobalt-rich manganese nodules are
located. Mining of the precious-metal bearing deposits in Papua New Guinea
appears to be economical today. An industrial consortium wants to begin
mining there by the end of 2016.

Destruction of deep-sea habitats

Scientists agree that mining manganese nodules would represent a dire

encroachment on the marine habitat. The following detrimental impacts are
assumed:
• While ploughing through the sea floor the harvesting machines stir up
sediment. Ocean currents can move this sediment cloud through the area.
When the sediments finally settle down to the sea floor again, sensitive
organisms, particularly the sessile, immobile ones are covered and die.
• Directly in the ploughed area all organisms are killed that cannot
escape the plough quickly enough, including snails, sea cucumbers and
worms. And even if they are not hurt by the plough, they can be vacuumed
up with the nodules and die during the cleaning process on the ship.
• The mining, pumping and cleaning of the manganese nodules creates
noise and vibrations, which disturb marine mammals such as dolphins, and
could force them to flee from their natural area.
• The sediment-laden water produced by the cleaning of manganese
nodules is released into the sea from the ships. A sediment cloud is also
created here. Present concepts envision a near-bottom discharge in order to
minimize the spread of the cloud. Releasing it near the bottom also avoids
clouding of the near-surface light-penetrating water layers. Biologists are
concerned that clouding of the near-surface waters could disturb the growth
of algae and other planktonic organisms. It is certain that these problems
cannot be completely eliminated. However, discussions are presently
underway about how to reduce them as much as possible. In any case, the
ISA requires environmentally sound manganese nodule production. And
solutions actually appear to be possible. According to recent studies, the
sediment cloud can be reduced by using a cowled rather than open
harvesting machine. This would, in part, prevent stirring up of the sediment
into the water column. Furthermore, the sediment cloud released by the ship
could be reduced by pumping it through pipes back to the sea floor so that
the particles settle relatively quickly. Engineers say, however, that this
additional pipe system would make manganese production significantly more
expensive. It is still not clear today how fast the habitats on the seafloor
would rebound from this massive intervention. Several international projects
have been carried out since the end of the 1980s to investigate the rate at
which harvested areas of the sea floor would be recolonized. But these were
quite small-scale interventions. For example, scientists in the German
project Disturbance and Recolonization (DISCOL) ploughed up a sea-floor
area of several square kilometres in the Pacific with experimental equipment
and revisited the site over several years afterward. The results indicated that
a period of 7 years were required before the ploughed area had adjusted
back to the same density of bottom life as before. Yet some species had
disappeared permanently, particularly those that were reliant on a hard
substrate. This means that after 7 years the disturbed area was significantly
species-depleted. In 2015, the German Federal Research Ministry will
provide money for an expedition that will visit this area once again. Then, for
the first time, the long-term effects will be observed after a period of 25
years. The DISCOL researchers stress that the damage caused by mining a
large area of manganese nodules would be much greater. After all, in the
experiment a comparatively small area was harvested. The disturbed area
was resettled rather quickly from the undamaged surrounding areas. But if
areas with many more square kilometres of seafloor are harvested,
recolonization of the harvested areas would take many years longer.

Government Agencies

In general, policy making for fishery and aquatic resources is located among
three government units/agencies, namely: the Department of
Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR),
the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and
the local government units. The DA has jurisdiction over the conservation
and proper utilization of agricultural and fishery resources. LGUs, on the
other hand, had been given the exclusive authority to grant fishery privileges
under the LGC of 1991. Aside from these agencies, a wide range of
government offices is responsible for specific tasks in fishery resource
management. Department of Agriculture- Bureau of Fisheries and
Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) is the principal agency responsible for the
promotion of agricultural development. Department of Environment and
Natural Resources was created in 1987 and is primarily the government
agency responsible for the conservation, management, development and
proper use of the country’s environment and natural resources, including
those in reservations, watershed areas and lands of the public domain, as
well as the licensing and regulation of all natural resources utilization as may
be provided by law. DENR has five (5) staff sectoral bureaus, namely the
Forest Management Bureau (FMB) , Lands Management Bureau
(LMB), Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), Ecosystems
Research and Development Bureau (ERDB), and the Protected Areas
and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB).

CONCLUSION

The resources for humankind’s hunger is insatiable. In consequence, the

seas are attracting growing interest as a resource reservoir. Large oil, gas

fields, and ore deposits are hosted from deep oceans. Extracting this mineral

wealth is a very appealing prospect.

These practices may lead to incidents.The tragedy is that the injured parties

- such as fishermen and tourism businesses - often face lengthy delays in

obtaining compensation because of liability issues. Overused of the

oceans,may also lead to destruction of marine lifestyle. Fortunately there are

different programs and laws to this day that supports, protects and

strengthens the lifetime of the ocean and the creatures living underneath.

Climate change is also expected to be accompanied by an increase in the

intensity of coastal storms. Coastal ecosystems can play a valuable role in

absorbing the impacts of these storms, so it can be reasonably anticipate

that the value of these coastal system as buffers will increase in the coming

decades. Coastal and marine ecosystems play a complex and vital role in

supporting economic prosperity and social welfare in developing countries.

They sustain the livelihoods of millions of poor households, provide multiple

ecosystem services that are essential for life, yield vast amounts of food,

and play a critical role in driving weather and climate.

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Resources. College of Charleston, University of Oklahoma, South

Carolina Sea Grant Consortium (2017), p. 3-5

Rivera, Rebecca et. al. Aquatic Resources In the Philippines and the extent

of poverty in the sector. Bangkok, Thailand (2002), p. 2-7, p. 9-12,

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