SAN FERNANDO CITY – The fishery sector will be greatly affected by black sand offshore mining in the Lingayen Gulf, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources BFAR said.
The Lingayen Gulf hosts three mariculture parks – one in Sual, Pangasinan that covers 257 hectares, one each in Rosario and Sto. Tomas, La Union with 10 hectares each. There are ten fish sanctuaries and two marine protected areas in different coastal towns of Pangasinan .
In its bosom lies the widely-known Hundred Islands National Park, the country’s first national park and which is under the National Integrated ProtectedAreas System.
Felymar Ragutero, senior aquaculturist of BFAR I, said 27,647 fisherfolk are dependent of the gulf for their livelihood. Of the total, 13,108 fishermen using 1,419 municipal fishing boats are engaged in capture fishing.
On the other hand, the mariculture parks are occupied by fish cage operators producing pompano, siganid and bangus. From January 2020-September 2021, the Sual mariculture park
alone produced 31,588 metric tons of fish.
But the entire fishery sector of Pangasinan produces 148,493 metric tons of fish in 2019. The bulk of the production came from aquaculture which contributed 128, 641 metric tons while the rest came from municipal and commercial fishing.
Ragutero presented the impacts on of the Lingayen Gulf of offshore mining during a virtual webinar on offshore and onshore mining hosted by the Tanggol Kalikasan, a non-government organization involved in protecting the environment.
The virtual seminar aimed to inform the public about the effects on the gulf and its resources by the proposed magnetite offshore mining by the company identified as Iron Ore, Gold and Vanadium Resources (Phils.) Inc.
The project will cover 10,000 hectares of the gulf off the towns of Sual, Labrador, Lingayen and Binmaley and Dagupan City, and will extract 25 million of magnetite sand yearly for 25 years.
Ragutero said onshore and offshore mining affects biodiversity and ecosystems. ”It can disturb the seafloor which can alter or destroy marine life habitats and lead to loss of species and fragmentation or loss of ecosystem structure,” she said.
She added that some forms of mining stir up fine sediments on the seafloor and would smother animals or harm filter-feeding species. “Destroying and disturbing their habitats
directly affects their life cycle and productivity, with some bethnic (sea bottom) ecosystems and creatures buried,” she explained.
Mining also causes noise and light pollution, leaks and spills of fuels and toxic products, she said. Based on studies from other countries, mining activities result in slow recovery from changes and displacement of marine life, even after decades, she added.
Ragutero mentioned that mining also affects aquaculture, as it increases turbidity, impedes
sunlight that leads to the decrease of dissolved oxygen. “Increased turbidity with increase in temperature affects the metabolism of aquatic animals,” she said.
BY: YOLANDA SOTELO
SINAG NG BAYAN NEWS 