Diving ban placed on protected Philippines marine park

Manila: A limit of 500 metres has been placed on any divers and tourists looking to venture near two diving sites in a protected marine park in southwestern Philippines, to pave way for a long period of rehabilitation of the area that was damaged by a United States navy ship last January, a senior official said.

A one-year ban is enforced at two of the 15 diving sites at the Tubbataha Reef, because of their proximity to the area that was damaged by the USS Guardian, a minesweeper, last January 17, Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) chief Angelique Songco said in a radio interview.

The ban will help scientists and experts to assess a strategy to rehabilitate the damaged area at the Tubbataha Reef, said Songco, adding the one-year ban will allow a proper implementation of the rehabilitation plan at the protected marine park.

Meanwhile, Filipino scientists from the premier University of the Philippines and American Navy marine biologists will start diving explorations Tuesday to assess ways to rehabilitate the damaged area of the Tubbataha Reef, said Songco.

The ban will be enforced by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), said Commodore Enrico Evangelista, head of PCG Palawan District.

The rehabilitation plan will follow after the US Navy pays a fine of $1.4 million for the damage and rehabilitation of some 4,000 square metres of the Tubbataha Reef, another source told Gulf News.

Earlier, tourists and divers were allowed to view from a distance but were banned from taking photos of the salvage operations that included the dismantling of the 60-metre long USS Guardian, a minesweeper, all parts of which were transferred to a US base in Japan last March 30.