Environment group condemns alleged West Philippine Sea human waste dumping

Environment group Oceana Philippines on Tuesday denounced the alleged dumping of human waste by hundreds of vessels anchored in the West Philippine Sea.

In a statement, Oceana said the activity poses a "serious risk" to the fisheries and biodiversity in the ocean, which the Philippines and neighboring countries depend on for food.

Oceana urged the Philippine government to investigate the "deplorable abuse" of the country's territorial waters.

The group also called on the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to verify the illegal activity.

Under the Clean Water Act of 2004, Oceana said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is mandated to convene the management board in coordination with the National Water Resources Board and designate certain areas as water quality management areas using appropriate physiographic units such as watershed, river basins or water resources regions.

"The amended Fisheries Code imposes sanctions on vessels found guilty of aquatic pollution, while the Clean Water Act of 2004 prohibits unauthorized transport or dumping into sea waters of sewage sludge or solid waste," it said.

Earlier, a United States-based expert said Chinese vessels have been dumping human waste in parts of the West Philippine Sea.

Liz Derr, founder and CEO of Simularity, which specializes in geospatial analysis and provides satellite data imagery, revealed that Chinese ships have been dumping raw sewage every day for several years on reefs, creating harmful Chlorophyll-a blooms in the waters.

Showing satellite images in the last five years, Derr said effluent from Chinese ships is causing elevated concentrations of Chlorophyll-a leading to "a cascade of reef damage that will take decades to recover even with active mitigation."

At least 236 ships were spotted in the Union Banks or Pagkakaisa Reefs, which is within the West Philippine Sea, as of June 17.

Derr said the marine damage is in addition to the well-documented destruction by China of coral reefs, the harvest of endangered giant clams, and artificial island-building. — DVM, GMA News