EDITORIAL - Disaster in Tubbataha ? ?

Salvaging operations on the US Navy minesweeper USS Guardian grounded in Tubbataha are finally underway, with the bridge of the ship removed. Marooned at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, bobbing around with the tide in the middle of the Sulu Sea, the minesweeper continues to inflict damage on the coral reef.

The Guardian, equipped with sophisticated technology including state-of-the-art sonar and designed to detect and destroy well-hidden sea mines, slammed into the reef over a month ago, in fine weather. The accident fueled speculation that US sailors fell asleep at the Guardian’s control room or weren’t there at all, but for now the official version is that the accident could have been due to inaccurate digital nautical charts. It’s scary to consider which other parts of the ocean are wrongly depicted in US naval charts.

Before more vessels with the same faulty nautical charts and disabled sonar smash into Tubbataha, authorities should quickly draw up measures to ensure that the reef, officially declared a protected area, will henceforth be sufficiently protected from wayward ships. It was not the first ship accident in the marine reservation. In 2005, a vessel of the environmental group Greenpeace also struck Tubbataha Reef, but the damage was nowhere as extensive as the one still being caused by the 68-meter-long, 1,300-ton Guardian.

It takes ages before damaged corals fully regenerate. The world’s coral reefs have become heavily depleted, and conservation began in earnest only in recent decades. The Philippines has also lost much of its coral reefs, but the country still has some of the world’s most extensive coral networks, including the one at the Verde Island Passage in Batangas, which has been dubbed the “center of the center of marine biodiversity” in the world.

Countries that are home to World Heritage Sites have a responsibility to preserve those sites. Even as salvaging operations on the Guardian proceed, measures to safeguard Tubbataha Reef from further damage should be put in place as soon as possible. The marine park cannot withstand a similar disaster.