The PH’s unique shark and ray diversity

It might seem scary to encounter sharks underwater because of how they are portrayed in movies, but the thought of a sea without them is even scarier.

The Philippines is a special place in the world for sharks and rays. The first megamouth shark babies ever recorded was when a 5.6-meter megamouth pregnant with seven pups stranded in Dipaculao, Aurora, in November 2023. Only discovered in 1976, the megamouth shark is one of the rarest sharks on Earth, with only a few hundred recorded worldwide. The Philippines is second on the list with most sightings, mostly coming from the seas fronting Cagayan de Oro.

Rays are plentiful in the markets of Bicol where their cuisine calls for this as the main ingredient in one of their most popular dishes, called kinunot. In April 2023, a pregnant Philippine guitarfish, a critically endangered ray species that can only be found in the country, was recovered in a marketplace in Tabaco, Albay. It was also the first record of Philippine guitarfish pups. They have been traditionally used in the Bicol region even prehistorically.

These are just a few of the extraordinary scenarios that have come up in the past decade. There have been only a handful of fatal shark attacks recorded in the Philippines in the past century and none recently. Although these animals are usually found dead on the beach, in a palengke, or even accidentally caught in fishing gear, they represent what is out there, or could be out there, in terms of marine biodiversity in Philippine waters. The Philippines is known as the global center of marine biodiversity. The question is, are our sharks and rays thriving?

Role of sharks and rays in the Philippine marine ecosystem and economy. The Philippine seas are home to over 200 species of sharks, rays, and chimaeras. These three groups of fish of over 1,000 species that make up the class Chondrichthyes or cartilaginous fishes. They are known to live longer but reproduce slowly compared to their more prolific bony fish counterparts. Sharks and rays thrive in areas that are still healthy enough to support their presence. But this works both ways: The presence of the sharks helps maintain healthy ecosystems, as they play a major role in maintaining robust fish stocks not only as apex predators but also as mid or lower-level predators.

Fortunately, scientists and conservationists in the Philippines do not rely on dead specimens to learn about sharks. We have various records from all around the Philippines where sharks abound, mostly through more pleasant activities such as tourism, scuba diving, and sports fishing. For example, up to 60 individual juvenile blacktip reef sharks have been encountered in the shallows of many tidal flats in Philippine islands such as Puerco Island in Palawan and Danjugan Island in Negros Occidental.

Our shark and ray resources rely on conservation interventions for them to thrive throughout the Philippines, not just in a few sites. Human activities such as targeted and incidental fishing (for fins, meat, and oil), pollution causing habitat destruction and degradation, and climate change are considered major threats. Over a third of all shark and ray species globally are already considered vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered. Studies have shown that the global abundance of oceanic sharks and rays declined by 71 percent since the ’70s. Only 20 percent of reefs surveyed in 54 countries are devoid of sharks. Despite these statistics, only 58 species are legally protected in the country. Enforcing our environmental laws has always been challenging.

To save our seas, we need to look at protecting the species that make up the diversity of life that need to exist to maintain its health. One of the strategies for conservation is through the protection of the most important habitats used by our sharks and rays, especially those that are threatened. They cannot exist separately from each other. There is an initiative that maps out these areas where we can prioritize efforts globally, it is termed ISRA or Important Shark and Ray Areas. Protecting these habitats for sharks and rays has many benefits for humans too: food security, tourism, well-being, and more. This can only happen when we work together to ensure that biodiversity is alive and well in our shared home called the Philippine seas.

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AA Yaptinchay, DVM, is the director of Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines, a nonprofit organization that focuses on the conservation and protection of endangered, threatened, and protected marine species.