By John Rey Saavedra/Philippine News Agency
CEBU CITY — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Region 7 (Central Visayas) on Monday clarified that there is no outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish in the coral reefs of Cebu province.
BFAR-7 Fisheries Resource Management Section office-in-charge Johann Tejada said contrary to the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office’s (PDRRMO) pronouncement last week about an outbreak, the presence of many starfish of the said species in the waters is normal during summer time.
“Walay siyay outbreak (There’s no outbreak) because it’s a common occurrence in the coral reef during summer (season) because the predator of crown-of-thorn starfish are less abundant,” Tejada told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in a phone interview.
Tejada said local government units maintaining coral reefs for conservation, which experience an increase in the population of such species every summer, have been conducting a harvest or clean-up drive to prevent damage to their coral reefs.
“Tangtangon man gyud na sila (They should be removed) every summer,” he noted.
“Naa nay makit-an nga (We can find) evidence of infestation due to increasing presence of the starfish, it might be alarming but manageable,” Tejada said.
Coral reefs provide homes for marine species, including fish, mollusks, crustaceans, among others. Crown-of-thorns are large starfish that feed on hard or stony coral polyps.
BFAR-7 experts, Tejada said, are now conducting a survey in the municipalities that maintain marine protected areas, marine conservation areas, or marine sanctuaries to validate the report of PDRRMO head Baltazar Tribunalo about an alleged crown-of-thorns outbreak.
Earlier, Tribunalo said the Provincial Environment and Natural Resource Office (PENRO) declared crown-of-thorn outbreak in 50 marine protected areas in 14 municipalities in Cebu.
Tribunalo said his office moved to set aside an initial PHP1.3-million budget to be used for the removal of the starfish.
The harvesting, to be funded by the provincial government of Cebu, will be integrated in its Cash for Work and Food-for Work programs for the fisherfolk who have lost their livelihood due to El Niño.
Tejada, however, said the PDDRMO may just be anticipating the situation when it conducted an initial scoping survey as the El Niño also affected marine life.
He agreed that the weather phenomenon has an adverse effect on marginal fishermen.
“Marginal fishermen are fishing near the coral reefs. But if the temperature rises, the fish will not stay in the hot portion of the sea. They will go somewhere that is cooler,” Tejada said. “It’s not the crown-of-thorns that affected the livelihood of the fishermen, it’s the temperature.”
He said the Office of Civil Defense-7 (Central Visayas) will make a pronouncement on whether or not to include the crown-of-thorn phenomenon in Cebu in the declaration of state of calamity due to El Niño, after meeting with various government agencies and PDRRMOs in the region.
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