A better solution than ocean nourishment
The STAR reported last Dec. 23 that the Sydney-based Ocean Nourishment Corp. (ONC) has proposed a project entitled Ocean Nourishment Project to be conducted in the
The project appears to be a simple solution to the problem of increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere, which is blamed for creating the greenhouse effect.
But the UP Marine Science Institute (MSI) in Diliman,
The ONC’s project proposal involves releasing 500 tons of “urea” granules into the sea and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has withheld endorsement of the project to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), citing concerns about the large amounts of urea to be used and the possible effects of such large-scale intervention.
Dr. Romeo Fortes, former dean of the UP Visayas College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, has also urged caution about the project. He has said that although the project could be beneficial if it succeeded, the project should be “calculated” and guided by protocols.
From these various concerns, the question can be asked: Are there no other better solutions than the proposed “ocean nourishment.”?
In my book “Manna from Heaven: Spirulina (Microalgae) in the Philippines,” I wrote that “throughout the world, algae accounts for more than 90 percent of the world’s photosynthetic activity,” and “this makes algae our planet earth’s richest source of oxygen.”
Probably not known to many, spirulina is a powerful conservation tool which helps to balance the ecological health of our planet. Besides purifying and giving nourishment to our body in a number of ways, spirulina also adds to the quality and quantity of the life-sustaining air that we breathe, by returning oxygen to the atmosphere while consuming carbon dioxide as its grows.
One ton of spirulina consumes 450 kg of carbon and releases 1.2 ons of oxygen while it is growing. A hectare of desert land, or any other unproductive or productive land, can produce 14 tons of spirulina per year while pulling 6.3 tons of carbon dioxide out of the air and putting back 16.8 tons of oxygen. Through the process of photsynthesis, spirulina is the most efficient user of the sun’s energy at eight percent, compared to only three percent among other trees and plants.
In addition to tis vital role in helping curb global warming, spirulina is also seen to be a practical and effective solution to global hunger and malnutrition. The United Nations had issued a declaration in 1974 that Spirulina is “the best food for tomorrow,” considering that only “one kilogram” of spirulina has the equivalent food nutritional value of “1,000 kgs” of assorted vegetables. The Internet notes sthat spirulina is the world’s “healthiest” wholefood micro-vegetable in our planet.
Modern aquaculture technology vs ocean nourishment
Why go to the uncertainties of “ocean nourishment” to produce more algae when we can produce “unlimited” quantities of the world’s most nutritious and healthiest algae in our backyards, farms, or desert lands, through simple, but modern and practical aquaculture technology.
Ms. Beth Day Romulo, associate editor and columnist of Philippine Panorama magazine, has cited spirulina as the “Food from sunlight and water,” that can be grown in small or large water containers, fishponds or reservoirs. It is currently roduced commercially in four to five hectare farms in at least 11 countries worldwide, averaging about 200 to 300 tons per farm, and marketed in more than 70 countries. One farm alone in
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