Cyanide And Dyanmite Fishing Destroying Reefs In Disputed Spratly Islands - AFP

[hatrack]

Coral reefs in the disputed Spratlys island chain in the South China Sea are either dead or dying due to destructive fishing, a study by Philippine biologists has said.

Use of dynamite and cyanide in fishing has destroyed most coral reefs around Pag-asa, a Spratly island occupied by Philippine forces, the scientists told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday.

Residents of Pag-asa, also known as Thitu island, blame Vietnamese and Chinese fishermen for the destruction, said marine biologist Ben Gonzales of the Western Philippines University. Gonzales led a team from the university on a two-week survey around Pag-asa island earlier this month. "The unabated use of cyanide fishing has destroyed the coral reefs around by Pag-asa island alone by over 60 percent," he said.

Gonzales said that at Pag-asa, the second largest of the Spratly islands, he saw Filipino soldiers prevent fishermen from getting too close to land but did not stopping them from using air compressors to catch fish.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/080524100827.0duqi2x4.html

[pscot]

1. I thought dynamite & cyanide

were traditional Filipino fishing techniques. I remember reading about this years ago.

[Massacure]

2. Cyanide? Fish are edible after poisoning them with cyanide?