Golden Coral Triangle
Golden Coral Triangle – A Food Supply Chain Reaction
Flying back from a vacation in Boracay, I was surprised to read about what may probably be a little known fact … that the oceanic area ranging from Singapore to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands covering 23 Million square Kilometers represents the richest and one of most important Coral Reef regions of the world. This eco system is a critical breeding ground and nursery for about 75% of the world corals with commensurate bio diversity of thousands of species per square Kilometer according to the WWF. It also creates livelihoods for over 100 Million people living in the area.
75 percent of all known coral species did I just say?? Part of me is still coming to grips with it. It also makes up more than half of the world’s reefs … again yes, the whole wide world. Within this sustenance rich eco systems lives 40 percent of the world’s coral reef fish species, and six of the world’s seven species of marine turtle, 51 of the world’s 70 mangrove species and 23 of the 50 sea grass species.
Feast on this Video from WWF is you like:
Snorkleling carefully around Boroquay, I could witness the damage that Ship anchors have on the corals … the impact of Tourists and the waste they generate may have over time on this fragile eco system. There are 2 things that impact Corals: rising Temperature of the oceans that cause Bleaching of the Corals and their eventual death … and second is theformation of Carbonic acid. Albeit the weaknest as I recall from my days in Chemistry, the never ending increasing levels of Carbon dioxide that naturally dissolves into the Oceans. Today it is doing so at non sustainable rates cause some species according to Richard Feely (Researcher with the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to experience corrosion along the Northern Coast of California.
The logical questions to ask ourtselves are what happends when the Corals die off?
- Rubbish thrown overboard from some passing ships.
- Human footprint on the delicate ecosystem.
- Global warming and rising acidity.
- Removing of predators like shaks for their fins and so on
- Overfishing and growing demand for Seafood is in my opinion the biggest danger.
The rising wealth of China and Asian’s natural love of seafgood including Shashimi paces another source of rising and exponential pressure on the environment. Again as I stated before, who are we to prevent those who come after us in terms of affordability into a lifestyle that we all love. The rising population and rising affordability index creates a demand chain reaction that is seriously putting our future at risk.
Whilst I am not one for doom and gloom and very much a positive thinker in my outlook, what will happens when food becomes an issue? How can we continue to replace natural systems into artificual farming systems. Land based farming with its nutrient rich runs offs into river systems feds the oceans with fertilisers they don’t need. It cause algae to grow and that also kills the Corals.The same, I imagine can be said of open net fish farms. According to David Suzuki, the issues with oen net fiush farming are as follows: “
* Sea lice and disease from farmed salmon threaten wild stocks.
* Pollution from farms contaminates surrounding waters.
* Drugs, including antibiotics, are required to keep farmed fish healthy.
* Escapes of farmed fish (alien species) threaten native wild fish.
* Net loss: Farmed fish are fed pellets made from other fish, depleting other fish species on a global scale.”
Solutions resides in closed system fish farming or acquaculture via land based farms and in Dams.
He further adds that Salmon, “ are carnivores and are fed pellets made from other fish. Apart from the ecological and health concerns associated with salmon farming, farmed salmon actually represent a net loss of protein in the global food supply as it takes from two to five kilograms of wild fish to grow one kilogram of salmon. Highly nutritious fish like herring, mackerel, sardines, and anchovy are used to produce the feed for farmed salmon, which is essentially luxury fare for the North American, European, and Japanese markets.”
In contrast fast growing non-carnivorous fish like Tilapia and catfish are rich in protein and their waste becomes a rich source of fertilisers for plants and crops to grow in a contained environment like on a farm.
I shall be thinking more carefully before going for my next Shashimi meal as to where that came from and what the toll was on the environment.
In many ways, there is a compelling argument to embrace vegetable based diet. Just think about it for a second: one kilo of Beef takes 85 times more water than a kilo of Potatoes to produce. I am personally not a vegetarian yet but when eating a meal go for taste and nutritional content rather than a being driven by an addiction to eat meat based foods. Being Asian does help as we tend to eat rice, vegetables at each meal and lots of soup so I guess that makes it easier. If you do need to have your meat fix go ahead but do have an open mind and try new things. In fact one of the reasons I like spicy foods is that they taste so good and often just the sauces and vegetables in it are enough to fill me up.
A take away here is that even the smallest effort when multiplied by 6 Billion people worldwide all helps … do think of the next decades are they will eventually be upon us and the issues our planet faces are not going to go away. Finally a message to us all work driven, passionate career folks … enjoy the moment!
