BENHAM Rise could be the key to securing the country’s food security and the Philippines should build a research facility on its shallowest portion to assert its ownership of the resource-rich 13-million-hectare undersea region that is part of the country’s continental shelf, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Monday.
Returning from a three-day expedition to Benham Rise, Piñol said that the Agriculture department would also recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte the conversion of the country’s newest territory into a protected food supply zone.
“We should strongly manifest our ownership of… Benham Rise by establishing our presence in the area,” Piñol said.
“I will recommend that the government consider establishing a structure in the shallowest portion of the Benham Bank, which is estimated to be 15,000 hectares,” he added.
The facility, which will serve as a research base for Filipino scientists and aqua-marine researchers and a monitoring station against illegal fishermen and poachers, could also serve as a refuge for Filipino fishermen and a docking station for government vessels on patrol.
“The Philippine Benham Rise Research Facility, which will proudly fly our country’s standard, will be a symbol of our ownership of the resource-rich area, which the government will protect and safeguard for the Filipinos of the future,” Piñol said.
The Agriculture secretary said that the area has “vast potential” that can be a source of food for future generations of Filipinos.
“The bounty of the 25 million hectares of water in the Philippine Continental Shelf east of Luzon is mind-boggling,” Piñol said.
“The Philippine Benham Rise is proven to be one of the spawning areas of the immensely in-demand and expensive Blue Fin Tuna, which could fetch as much as P500,000 each,” he added.
The government could declare a closed fishing season during the spawning season, and declare a protected food supply exclusive zone to shield the area from extractive activities and oil exploration.
“Just like any delicate ecosystem, there is a need to protect and conserve the Philippine Benham Rise as a food source for future generations of Filipinos,” Piñol said.
“It is my belief that the country will benefit more if it will protect and conserve the Philippine Benham Rise because while minerals and oil supply are finite, the capacity of the fish species in the area to multiply is limitless,” he said.
Benham Rise, a 13-million-hectare undersea region that lies east of Luzon and off the provinces of Isabela and Aurora, is a massive formation of basalt, a common volcanic rock, and is described in a study as a thickened portion of the Philippine sea plate’s oceanic crust.
Studies conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have indicated large deposits of methane in solid form in the area.
The President previously expressed his intentions to rename the Benham Rise to Philippine Ridge to reinforce its claim on the undersea plateau, which the United Nations in 2012 declared as part of the Philippines’ extended continental shelf.
Chinese ships were reported to have sailed in the Benham Rise area from November to January, causing concern in the defense establishment.
There had been limited research on the area, but an expedition last year found pristine corals, diverse marine life and untapped gas reserves in the area.
Piñol and a team from the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Aquatic and Natural Resources explored Benham Rise from May 5 to 7.
Three divers explored the shallowest part of the Benham Bank to study the sea floor and check the possibility of establishing a research center in the area.
Piñol presided over the floatation of 15 payaos or fish aggregating devices designed to attract fish to congregate for easier fishing.
“This is a pro-active action to discover how rich Benham Rise is as far as natural resources are concerned. More importantly, this is also to protect the area from overfishing and to give our fisherfolk priority access to Benham Rise’s marine resources and make them partners in ensuring the protection of Benham Rise,” Piñol said.