Manila Ocean Park, WWF work together to promote marine biodiversity

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

THE SOON-TO-BE opened Manila Ocean Park (MOP) has tied up with the conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines (WWF) largely to highlight public awareness, as well as to monitor the MOP’s adherence to local and international laws on animal acquisition and maintenance.

The partnership aims to strengthen the WWF’s public information on the protection of marine ecosystems in the Philippines through the educational materials provided by the MOP to visitors. The WWF will also ensure that the MOP does not include protected or endangered species of marine life as part of its exhibits.

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MOP president Lim Chee Yong told reporters that the park, which will open in February this year, has been given strict limitations not to include protected species of marine flora and fauna, which includes wild corals, sea turtles and all marine mammals.

The only time that the MOP can maintain such protected animals is if some caught specimens are unable to fend for themselves due to physical injury but otherwise, the MOP cannot keep such creatures.

MOP will also hire marine sciences experts, mostly coming from the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute. One expert is UP assistant professor of Environmental Science Benjamin Vallejo, who said the MOP can also serve as a research facility. Potential studies they could be conducting are human-assisted coral farming as well as testing the effects of global climate change on local species of coral.

WWF vice chairman Jose Lorenzo Tan said the MOP is a good venue for informing the public regarding the importance of the country’s marine ecosystems, as well as the dangers of disregarding it. While the MOP will only maintain up to 300 species of marine creatures, Tan said this number already represents the sea ecosystem of the Philippines.

Tan said the WWF will continuously provide the MOP with the latest information on marine sciences and will collaborate with them on the educational materials to be developed for their environmental conservation drives.

The MOP will initially open its oceanarium, a huge facility housing several water tanks. It will then build a park and a hotel after the opening. The entire facility will cost approximately P1 billion to build.

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