MANILA, Philippines – Conservation groups yesterday urged investments to protect the remaining coastal resources of Bataan, as they lamented the “dismal state” of the coral reefs in the province due to blast and cyanide fishing.

During a joint ecological immersion to survey the coastal resources of Morong town last month, the World Wide Fund for Nature-Philippines (WWF-Philippines) and Manila Ocean Park (MOP) noted the state of the coral reef fronting the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

Morong is a known nesting site for endangered olive-ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea), the smallest of the world’s seven sea turtle species and globally classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as vulnerable.

Allied organizations such as the Bantay Pawikan Project have been working to safeguard sea turtle hatchlings since 1999.

According to WWF-Philippines, the outskirts of the BNPP were once fronted by a healthy coral reef. Today, however, the area has become “a barren graveyard of broken algae-encrusted coral rubble,” it said.

Full Story: PhilStar/Yahoo PH