Posted on 25 January
2010 - Seafood, travel and tourism
operators in the Coral Triangle made a joint
declaration reduce the impact of their businesses
on the world’s most important marine region.
More than 160 delegates
gathered last week in the Philippine capital
Manila for the Coral Triangle Business Summit
to reach agreements on how their industries
could contribute to the protection of the
Coral Triangle and the 120 million livelihoods
that depend on its marine resources.
Participants included
leaders from tuna and live reef fish businesses,
airlines and resort owners, as well as government
ministers and officials, and non-government
organizations.
In the seafood sector,
fishing operators and buyers agreed to address
the problem of overcapacity and overfishing
through a number of measures including ensuring
that fish are not sourced from illegal operations
as well as implementing catch and trade
documentation schemes to ensure traceability.
Participants also agreed
to promote low carbon fish production methods
and trade practices.
Martin Brugman, president
of global seafood supplier Culimer B.V said
one of the issues discussed was how adding
value to fish could help operators to better
address the problem of overfishing.
“Ultra-low temperature
production of tuna for example allows for
better quality fish when it’s landed and
helps fishermen get by taking less fish
from the oceans but making more dollars,”
said Mr Brugman.
Cebu Air used the summit
to significantly extend its program to help
protect Apo Reef in the Philippines. ‘Bright
skies for Juan’ is an initiative that allows
consumers to donate money with each flight
to a WWF climate change adaptation program
to protect the Philippines’ largest coral
reef.
Head of WWF’s Coral
Triangle Program Dr Lida Pet Soede said
the summit had been a huge success and had
laid some strong foundations for greater
participation of the private sector in the
protection of the Coral Triangle.
“This first ever Coral
Triangle Business Summit has been a great
success and the private sector has shown
it is willing to take greater responsibility
for the millions of livelihoods that depend
on the health of the marine environment
in this part of the world,” Dr Pet Soede
said.
The Summit was organized
by the Philippine Department of Agriculture
and the Philippine Department of the Environment
and Natural Resources in collaboration with
WWF and with the support of USAID.
