Atty. Gloria Estenzo-Ramos
For not a few urbanites, savoring life’s moments by the sea is paradise on earth
It is one of life’s luxuries, to bask in complete tranquility, soothed by the rhythm of the waves and the cool blue that envelopes the horizon.
For many of our people living in coastal communities, the ocean is life itself, the principal provider of food, their livelihood and their well-being.
But, the sad reality is humanity has perfected the art of destroying our blue planet. We have turned our oceans into one big dump, with plastic as the most visible of all.
Plastic pollution has become the scourge of humanity. Plastic has become such a part of our existence that seeing them along waterways, our streets and ocean has become commonplace.
The National Academy of Sciences reported that over 6 billion kilograms (14 billion pounds) of garbage were dumped into the sea every year.
Divers are alarmed at the magnitude of the plastic problem. Oceana’s Campaigns Manager, Danny Ocampo, had an unforgettable experience seeing a turtle about to pounce at a plastic bag a few inches away.
He narrated that “I saw the plastic bag floating in the water and as I approached to grab it a sea turtle came swimming towards it so I took the photo thinking I could use it to educate others about the impacts of plastic waste on our oceans. I was really surprised that the sea turtle lunged on the plastic bag and it was a good thing I and our volunteer Dodong were quick enough to grab the plastic bag and pulled it away from the sea turtle….It was the first time I saw a sea turtle do this in my 29 years of diving… it also shows how real the problem is with plastics and marine wildlife eating them (mistaking them as food) and dying from ingesting them.”
Apart from plastic, we are using sophisticated gadgets and technologies, to strip bare the fisheries as if they are inexhaustible.
Regulations still leave much to be desired.
Scientists are saying that by 2048, there will be nothing left to fish.
Our lack of care for our oceans is affirmed by a survey recently released by Aid Data showing that marine conservation is the least of the priorities among 3,000 leaders in developing countries.
No wonder our oceans and seas are facing tremendous threats as a result of our unceasing assault on the integrity of the marine ecosystems.
Our authorities admitted that the price of fish has increased tremendously because of the decline of the fish stocks.
It is the height of ironies because as Oceana Chief Executive Officer, Andy Sharpless, puts it “a healthy ocean, responsibly managed, can feed more than a billion people a day and do so in a way that is truly sustainable.”
When do we awaken to act to protect it?
When it is too late?