by Prix D Banzon

Davao City (6 November) -- The Government is implementing the Live Food Fish Trade Reform Program (LFFTRP) to help save the Coral Triangle.

The Coral Triangle is home to about 50 percent of tuna-spawning areas for yellow fin, big eye and skipjack and the world's most valuable fish - the blue fin tuna.

It also contains 75 percent of all coral species known to science, 75 percent of the world's mangrove species, 45 percent of the world's seagrass species, 58 percent of tropical marine mollusks, six out of eight species of marine turtles, 22 species of marine mammals and migrating populations of whale sharks and manta rays, and more than 3,000 species of fish.

Department of Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap in a press statement said the Philippines through DA's Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has undertaken series of measures to preserve the resources.

The LFFTRP includes the setting up of mariculture parks, promotion of sustainable tuna fisheries, establishment of marine protected areas, creation of international network for turtles and significantly reducing marine turtle by-catch, and reducing the impact of climate change and tourism.

Meanwhile, Yap said the Philippines is also undertaking a fish tagging project for mackerel and round scads species like galunggong and hasa-hasa in partnership with seven more Asian countries namely, Brunei Darussalam Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia (Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak), Vietnam and Myanmar - to let researchers determine the migratory path of these species.