Asian Island Nations Hope To Boost World’s Tuna Supplyff

Hopes for boosting the world’s supply of tuna are brightening after the four member countries of the Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) decided to pool their resources together and set into motion a wide-ranging environment program to halt the decline of the global tuna population.

BIMP senior officials have signed a pact here at the tail-end of the BIMP Investment Conference to protect the coral reefs at the Sulu-Sulawesi marine corridor identified by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the major spawning grounds for the world’s tuna.

Philippines trade and industry assistant secretary Merly Cruz who sits as a senior official during the recently concluded BIMP-EAGA Senior Officials Meeting told the media that it had been a very productive meeting for officials of the four-member countries.

”There were so many things we talked about and one of these was the growing environmental concern about the marine economic corridor in the Sulu-Sulawesi area which is the spawning ground for the world's tuna supply,” Cruz said.

Indonesian senior official Firman M.U. Tamboen said the group had “very fruitful” talks on a wide range of topics that included the rising concern about the need to protect and conserve the “coral triangle” in the Sulu-Sulawesi area to sustain the supply and population of tuna.

Environmental director Urooj Malik of the Asian Development Bank admitted there was a “sense of urgency” in the BIMP-EAGA Senior Officials Meeting at the Marco Polo Hotel here yesterday when the four member countries were briefed on “how bad the situation” has turned out on the environment and natural resources in the region.

On top of the growing problem of declining tuna, Malik also pointed to the fast disappearing rainforests of Borneo which must be protected and conserved by this generation to balance the ecosystem in this part of the world.

”That’s why it was so important for the BIMP EAGA to come together and recognize the sense of urgency and great attention these environmental problems require, so that long-range solutions can be put into place with our support,” Malik said.

The ADB, according to Malik, has set aside budget of some 1.5 million US dollars for a two-year planning and preparation to find out exactly “what must be done to save the coral reefs in Sulu-Sulawesi area to halt the decline of tuna population and put into place the needed conservation programs to save the disappearing rainforests of Borneo.”