BBC - Chinese fishermen destroying coral reefs in the South China Sea

[groundloop]

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35106631



I didn't take it seriously. I thought it might be anti-Chinese bile from a politician keen to blame everything on his disliked neighbour - a neighbour that claims most of the South China Sea as its own.

But then, as our little aircraft descended towards the tiny Philippine-controlled island of Pagasa, I looked out of my window and saw it. At least a dozen boats were anchored on a nearby reef. Long plumes of sand and gravel were trailing out behind them.

They had chained their boats to the reef and were revving their engines hard. Clouds of black diesel smoke poured into the air.

"What are they doing?" I asked the boatman.

"They are using their propellers to break the reef," he said.

Again I was sceptical. The only way to see for sure was to get in the water.

It was murky and filled with dust and sand. I could just make out a steel propeller spinning in the distance on the end of long shaft, but it was impossible to tell exactly how the destruction was being carried out.

The result was clear, though. Complete devastation.

This place had once been a rich coral ecosystem. Now the sea floor was covered in a thick layer of debris, millions of smashed fragments of coral, white and dead like bits of bone.

I swam on and on. In every direction the destruction stretched for hundreds of metres, piles and piles of shattered white coral branches. It seemed so illogical. Why would fishermen, even poachers, destroy a whole coral system like this?

Then, down below me, I spotted two of the poachers, wearing masks and trailing long breathing hoses behind them. They were manhandling something heavy.

As they struggled up the sandy underwater slope, through a stream of bubbles, I caught sight of what they were carrying - a massive giant clam, at least 1m (3ft) across.

They dropped it on to a pile near their boat. Next to it lay three others they had pulled out earlier. Clams of this size are probably 100 years old, and - as I discovered later on an internet auction site - can sell for between $1,000 (£665) and $2,000 a pair........

[BooScout]

1. Saw a report on the BBC last night...

About the island building. Some very scary stuff is going on in the South China Sea.

[Coventina]

2. No words.