A COUPLE of days ago, I came across a short article in some forgotten corner of my favorite newspaper. Unfortunately, I failed to set it aside, which explains why I will write about this situation in general terms.
It seems that a fishing village somewhere in Leyte is protesting because a corporate entity won the salvage rights to a shipwreck off their shores. They noticed that their fishing catch dropped dramatically once work on the wreck stopped started (Editor’s note: Thanks to reader Kargante for pointing out the error.). When they tried to stop the salvage work, their own town officials stonewalled them and threatened mayhem. Methinks that misplaced profit motives once again rear their ugly heads to the detriment of the general well-being of a community.
First, let us go into Ecosystems 101 and Web of Life for Dummies.
Coral reefs are living thriving communities that attract a whole spectrum of sea and animal life that feed off and sustain each other in what is known as the Web of Life. The corals provide the fundamental basis for the food chain that goes all the way up to the king of the hill, Man, who feasts off the various fish, crustaceans, and other edible life forms that the coral system makes possible. That is why environmentalists go to extreme lengths to preserve the life of the fragile ecosystem that is the coral reef. Corals propagate by letting go of minute spore-like fragments that look for places to implant themselves in. These spores become new corals in themselves once they find a suitable host habitat, which can mean almost any protruding object in the shallow foreshore areas. That explains why shipwrecks prove to be such irresistible magnets for coral and other life-forms, which explains why the foreshore areas off Leyte Gulf — where a huge naval battle was fought in the closing period of WW ll — are so rich, given that so many ships of the two opposing navies went to Davy Jones locker.
The action of a corporation to make money off the steel to be salvaged off the shipwreck will bring some benefit to the institution concerned, probably some funds to the community and — horrors, pockets of those who made it possible — a few others. But over the longer term, the fishing village will suffer for posterity as the source of its main livelihood is carted away and destroyed.
I suggest that small incidents like these be looked into more thoroughly by concerned citizens, so that the bottomline of one corporation does not get enhanced at the risk of impoverishing an entire fishing village.
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:13 am
You may want to read your article again. I think you mean that the their fishing catch dropped dramatically once work on the started (not stopped).