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Overfishing, pollution threaten Asia's marine resources
MANILA, lune 25 Over fishing, pollution and hard nosed commercial interests are emptying South-East Asia's rich seas, imperilling marine resources and the livelihood of people in one of the world's most tish-depen-dent regions reports IPS
Concern about precious but dwindling fish stocks is also heightening states' vigi lance over their waters, in creasing competition and leading to more fishing spats in international and territorial waters.
Australia earlier this year caught two Indonesian vessels fishing off its northern territory Kuala Lumpur s navy fired on an armed Chinese trawler in Malaysian waters and the Philippines stopped
tour < hinesc fishing vessels it said . lolatcd its waters in the ^iuth China Sea
But often it is the region's millions of small fishermen who are left holding empty nets crowded out by*large scale fishing firms or forced to sell their catch to support their families
"There arc simply too many fishers going after too tew tish. says lohn Mcmanus, senior scientist at the Manila based International Centre for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARMI
Asia s waters are rich in marine resources, making China the world s largest fish producer and Thailand the developing world's top fish exporter But the oceans wealth is not infinite, local
fish catch has stagnated in the last five years warn experts.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAOl says 70 per cent of the world's fish stocks are either fully exploited or severely depleted Trawlers in Thai land, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are catcn-ing as little as one fourth of want they used to net two decades ago.
South East Asian seas yield some seven million tonnes of fish, worth some US 6.5 billion dollars a year Hut the re Kon s waters are getting to be tavily overfished, particularly those oft Hainan in southern China. Vietnam, the Philippines, most of Indonesia and the Gulf of Thailand
ICLARM » Daniel Paul says
studies show the world already extracts the most from what the sea can produce.
"The Philippines is the epitome of what's happening in South-Asia. Virtually all major fish stocks are overfished," says Mcmanus, the archipleago has a 34,600-km long coastline and ranks 11th among 80 fish-producing countries, but its catch per unit effort has been falling by seven per cent
This due to overfishing, often worsened by improper and illegal fishing methods, encroachment by commercial fishing, pollution, and damage to coral reefs and mangroves.
Unlike developed countries, fishing in developing countries is by no means a luxury Asian depend heavily
on fish not just for livelihood but for food, and get nearly 30 per cent of their animal protein from fish.
Coastal fishermen, often the poorest in their nations, are forced to go farther out for better catches, as fishing gets harder, they use illegal or improper means of fishing like dynamite, fine-mesh nets or sodium cyanide, which soon fail to work anyway because of damage to the environment.
Commercial fishers and travellers are also going into shallower waters, unable to get as much in greater depths because the bulk of fish in tropical waters is above 40 metres. This in effect makes South-East Asian waters easier to overfish.
Some prescribed solutions, including some by aid agencies, may do more harm, says Mcmanps: "People think giving better gear or low-interest loans for gear will help them get more fish.'
But this may simply mean making more people dependent on fast-emptying and unprofitable seas, adding to population pressure that al- , ready taxes marine riches. 'The story is that their is no more fish to bank on," he adds.
Alternative-livelihoods like seaweed farming and others may help wean people away from fishing, he said. Shifting to fish farming and aquaculture may be harmful espe cially if they are large-scale and "make a single owner.