In addition, the fishes themselves will be affected by the high frequency sonic boom that is used during the initial stages of the exploration.
Studies revealed that the frequency used for the exploration, which is around 255 decibels, is enough to cause body tissues to hemorrhage, to elicit physiological stress and affect the neural-immune response of the marine organisms in the area, and causes the air bladders of the marine animals in the vicinity to burst resulting in “unexplained” death of cetaceans (i.e. dolphins, whales and porpoises) and other marine animals in the area.
Because of this, protests were mounted by fisherfolks, environmental groups, and people’s organizations from Bohol and Cebu asking the DoE to stop issuing permits to companies whose interest is not to help the local economy but to amass profits for their companies’ coffers.
Cinches expressed his disappointment with local government officials who are fully supporting the explorations. He cited the example of Argao where NorAsian is conducting a series of seismic surveys.
“The problem with the LGU is that they want to fill up their coffers at the expense of their constituents. They do not consider the fact that their constituents are suffering and are losing their source of livelihood,” Cinches said.
Cinches is however pleased that, after a series of protests and other moves done by fisherfolks and other concerned individuals, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia issued Executive Order No. 09 ordering the DoE Regional Office-VII to stop oil exploration and other related activities in the municipalities of Argao and Sibonga.
“What the government should be pursuing is the development of renewable sources of energy in order to solve the energy crisis,” Cinches said.
“In the era of climate change, development of fossil fuel is irresponsible. According to a report by the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIGPCC), the Philippines will be heavily affected by the changes in our planet’s climate,” he said.
“This is not just an issue of the fisherfolks, this is not just about oil and gas exploration. This is about the environment. Now we are stressing to and encouraging the different sectors to unite against a common enemy to ensure the success of our campaigns. In fact we owe it (the current successes like the pulling out of Japan Exploration from Tañon Strait) to the strong partnerships among the different stakeholders,” he said.
“We envision that Cebu’s devastated environment will be rehabilitated, for that which have remained to be preserved, and to make people who are responsible for the destruction of our environment to be held accountable,” he said. (Bulatlat)
