Gov’t urged: Prioritize proclamation of Benham Rise as protected area

The “most urgent” action the government needs do for Benham Rise (Philippine Rise) is to declare a portion of the biodiversity-rich undersea region as a marine protected area, a leader of a nonprofit environmental group said.

Atty. Gloria Ramos, Vice President of the Philippine chapter of international ocean conservation nonprofit Oceana, told GMA News Online that the petition they sent to Malacañang and was subsequently referred to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2017 has not yet been acted upon.

“Ang concern namin is hindi napa-prioritize ng Philippine government na i-proclaim ang Benham or the Philippine Rise as a marine reserve or a marine protected area, lalo na ang Benham Bank, which is the shallowest portion of the Philippine Rise,” Ramos said.

The petition, sent to the Palace in July 2017, sought the proclamation of Benham Rise as a protected area and of Benham Bank as a no-take zone.

Ramos renewed their call for President Rodrigo Duterte to proclaim the region as a protected area so that the government could place an agency directly in charge of "sustainably" enforcing a management plan over it.

“Nagtataka kami why the government has not done that,” she said. The Philippine government has, instead, recently allowed the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) to conduct marine science research on the northeastern seaboard of the Philippines, where Benham Rise is located.

The 24 million-hectare region—13 million hectares of which is an extended continental shelf that the Philippines was awarded sovereign rights in 2012—sits east of Luzon.

Benham Rise was declared as an “Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area” by 196 countries in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in 2016.

Senator Sonny Angara and Muntinlupa Representative Ruffy Biazon have filed separate bills seeking the creation of a body in charge of studying, developing, and conserving the area.

Duterte renamed Benham Rise to Philippine Rise in May 2017, after Chinese vessels were discovered to be surveying the area.

“Mr. President, declare portion—two million ang ni-recommend ng Biodiversity Management Bureau—two million hectares of Philippine Rise, including Benham Bank, as a marine reserve, kasi alam natin na napaka-precious or very critical habitat for fisheries ‘yang area na ‘yan and biodiversity as well,” Ramos said.

Apart from having a “100-percent coral cover,” the Benham Rise is also the breeding area of the Pacific bluefin tuna, one of the world’s most expensive fish.

A 2014 research cruise by scientists from the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, UP Los Baños, and the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources at Benham Bank revealed at least 11 reef-building, two solitary coral, and 62 fish species, making it an “important area for fisheries.”

Oceana joined the same group of scientists in a May 2016 expedition to Benham Rise. Various collaborations of universities with government institutions or with foreign bodies have carried out several studies of the region.

As of this posting, GMA News Online was trying to reached out to Malacañang for comment on the update on the status of Oceana’s petition.

Ramos also called on the Department of Foreign Affairs to disclose the deal with the Chinese institute IOCAS that approved its research cruise, which has drawn suspicion from critics given China’s history of militarizing disputed areas. —LBG, GMA News