Lessons from the dolphin stranding
By Gloria Ramos, Cebu Daily News
On February 10, my cell phone was bombarded with text messages from relatives and friends: “Breaking news on TV – watch 300 dolphins stranded at Bataan!”
The delightful dolphins, called melon-headed whales, were real scene-stealers. The news was everywhere – in print, television, radio and Internet. International news agencies like British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) picked it up.
Why do hundreds of dolphins “beach” themselves? Our old folks would say the dolphins are trying to tell us something. Was the rare occurrence related to the earthquake that rocked Indonesia the day after? Who knows?
Philippine Star (February 12) reported that Dr. Rafael Guerrero, executive director of the Los Baños-based Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development, suspects climate change as probable cause for the dolphins’ erratic behavior.
“It is possible that sea currents are changing because of climate change. There is something in the ocean that we should know about,” Guerrero was quoted to have said. He will conduct further studies to validate his theory.
Members of the Save Tañon Strait Citizens Movement (STSCM) egged our favorite expert, Dr. Lem Aragones, who was at the scene of the Bataan stranding, for answers. He explained:
“There are many possible explanations for single or mother-and-calf stranding (when they come to shore and become ‘beached’ or get stuck in shallow waters). This may include any of the following (or combinations): disease, parasite infestation, harmful algal blooms, injuries from ship strikes or fishery entanglements, pollution exposure, trauma, and starvation.”
In most cases the cause of stranding is undetermined. Mass stranding of this scale (more than 100 individuals) is often a mystery (since most mass stranding involve less than 15 individuals). Some species like sperm whales, pilot whales, false killer whales and melon-headed whales (this is what we had in Bataan) may come to shallow waters in large numbers for no apparent reason and seemingly in good health (that is what I believe was the case in Bataan as those that died were from entanglement).
In some cases, anthropogenic (e.g. acoustic trauma from sonar) and environmental (e.g. biotoxins from harmful algal blooms) factors are clearly the main causes.
Dr. Aragones also emphasized the compassionate character of the dolphins and added:
“The conventional wisdom, which is getting much backing by evidence, is that the altruistic nature of this group of animals (cetaceans), or the selfless concern for the welfare of others, maybe involved. This is evident in the tight social bonds for the dolphins and whales.
“Further, this strong social bond is evident on leader(s) (mostly ‘bulls’) who appear to be followed by the rest of the group. So in cases, when some individuals are in distress or sick, the rest of the group may hang around the area until the individual or individuals die (and thus are not connected with the group anymore acoustically, since that is how they communicate and the only time the group may leave). One could only imagine the impact if it is the leader that gets sick or disoriented.”
This fact is clear – we do not know for sure what caused the Bataan stranding. Humans’ polluting activities are a factor. What is indubitable is that there still so much that needs to be researched about marine mammals’ stranding and the state of our marine ecosystem. One personality quipped that we know more about the moon than we do about our underwater world.
The dolphin stranding in Bataan reminded me of the ongoing battle that the cetaceans could not fight for themselves. It was surreal to hear the highest officials from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) speaking on the possible reasons for the stranding of so many melon-headed whales in one area, attributing it to sounds from ships or from dynamite fishing.
Whoa! I could not believe it! The DENR and BFAR officials seemed to pretend that the government-initiated sonar survey and offshore drilling for oil that shattered the habitat of the whales and dolphins and displaced the fisherfolk at a unique natural heritage called Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS) and again last year in Argao and Sibonga, where dolphins are also abundant, never happened. Sonar survey and oil drilling produce very high decibels continuously for a longer duration.
Recently, local government units (LGUs) in Cebu covered by TSPS signed with DENR a document signifying their official membership in the Tañon Strait Protected Area Management Board (PAMB). Where were the other stakeholders like the non-government organizations and the people’s organizations from Cebu and from Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental, including their LGUs? The National Integrated Protected Area System Act requires their collective participation in the management body.
A fully constituted PAMB was not in existence when the so-called body made up largely of DENR officials and barangay kagawads (village councilors), approved the JAPEX oil drilling. There was not even a management plan and an assessment of the real state of the Tañon Strait ecosystem.
The recent signing event proved that there was no authentic PAMB that had the legal authority to approve the oil drilling in Tañon in 2007. What is appalling is that oil drilling and jet skiing are now allowed by the so-called PAMB as regular activities at Tañon Strait when it is not only a protected area but also a high conservation priority area for cetaceans (that is, whales and dolphins) and reef fishes, as so declared by the report of the 300 foremost experts, among them Dr. Perry Ong and Dr. Aragones.
What is the lesson to be learned from this? It is high time we, the people, crafted our own destiny and be actively engaged in governance and environmental protection.
Happily, the youth have realized that governance cannot be left to government alone. Kudos to my students in Public Corporation class for organizing the successful launch of the Registration and Voters’ Education campaign at University of Cebu, Banilad campus, with COMELEC’s Atty. Marco Castillano as main speaker. There are more campus tours on the Green Voting campaign being planned in the various universities. Mabuhay!
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