The missing piece of South China Sea puzzle

The geopolitics in the South China Sea (SCS) has been front and center of discussions over the contested region. There is nothing wrong with that, except that the fisheries perspective is largely absent from conversations over the West Philippine Sea (WPS), which is the portion of SCS that is well within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

What’s behind the aggression of China in the SCS? It’s clear that the territorial disputes have a security dimension because of the geopolitical implications of allowing China to dominate the vast SCS, which includes territorial waters belonging to the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

The territorial disputes also have a trade dimension, as $3.37 trillion in global trade passes through the SCS annually. Therefore, China’s complete control of the region could compromise a third of global maritime trade. The third dimension is the potential for drilling oil—SCS has 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 11 billion barrels of oil reserves, according to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

Many Western think tanks have cited these three factors to explain what is at stake in the SCS, with the risk of a shooting war between China and other claimant countries like the Philippines not improbable if the disputes are not settled peacefully.

For sure, the news media has also been covering the perspective of fishermen as part of efforts to provide a human face to these escalating territorial disputes which have already resulted in stronger military alliances between our country and the United States, Japan, Australia, and even France. But so far, the news coverage has focused on the livelihood of Filipino fishermen who are now barred by China from fishing in Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough/Panatag Shoal) and the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG or Spratly Islands).

These traditional fishing grounds are necessary not only for the thousands of Filipino fisherman to earn a living and feed their families, but also for Chinese fishermen.

500 species of reef fish. As early as June 2, 2021, the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) tried to draw attention to an often-neglected dimension of the SCS conflict: the fish. Through its Facebook page, UPLB’s Animal Biology Division (ABD) posed a thought-provoking question: “Why is the West Philippine Sea important to us Filipinos?” The same post provided a four-page infographic series made by “Filipino scientists who have worked in the region, including members of the ABD’s Aquatic Ecology Lab” to provide a “fisheries perspective” on the issue.

According to these UP scientists, the WPS has expansive coral reefs, with the KIG accounting for 30 percent of the total coral reefs in the Philippines. But what’s more crucial is that WPS alone—apart from the whole SCS—has “500 species of coral reef fish, a significant number of which are important food fishes,” the UPLB-ABD’s post says, citing several studies in the SCS.

The WPS provides around 27 percent of the country’s commercial fisheries production. If we were to lose control of the WPS, where would we find a quarter of our fish supply? Ironic as it may seem, we have been importing round scads or galunggong from China and other Asian countries during the closed fishing season in Palawan.

KIG alone is home to an estimated 1.94 million metric tons of large tuna, purpleback squid, bonitos, and trevallies (talakitok). Annually, KIG can produce 62,000-91,000 MT of fish, “enough to feed 1.6-2.3 million Filipinos per year,” UPLB-ABD says.

Half of the world’s fishing operations. But what’s both surprising and troubling is this—the WPS and the SCS region are a fishing hot spot in which “55 percent of the world’s fishing vessels operate,” UPLB-ABD says. Dear reader, what it means is that the price of fish in overseas markets can be dictated by anyone who has control over SCS.

What we might have been missing all along in our spirited conversations about the WPS is that fish—a source of protein, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals—is at the heart of China’s food security. Without seafood, how would it feed its 1.4 billion people?

In fact, despite effectively controlling much of the SCS using gray zone tactics, China is the world’s largest importer of frozen fish (19.9 percent or $5.1 billion) in 2022, according to TrendEconomy.com.

As early as 2016, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned that China’s “building of these artificial islands will almost certainly lead to increased Chinese fishing in the surrounding waters, which could raise the risk of a clash between Chinese fishing boats and those of other claimant countries.”

Thus, it’s no surprise that Filipino fishermen can’t even fish in our waters. For far too long, security and trade concerns have predominated discussions over the SCS, overlooking the more fundamental problem of food security for China and other claimant countries.

For comments: mubac@inquirer.com.ph