Publisher : PEMSEA - Tropical Coasts
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2009
Thematic : Tropical Marine Issues
Language : English
Note
The Philippines, composed of about 7,100 islands (300,000 km2 of land), is an archipelago located a little above the equator bounded by the Pacific Ocean, China Sea and Celebes Sea. The total length of its coastline is about 17,460 km, with a territorial water area (including exclusive economic zone) of about 2,200,200 km2 of which 266,000 km2 are coastal waters and 1,394,000 km2 are oceanic. The Philippine shelf area (depth of 200 m) is about 184,600 km2 while the coral reef area is 27,000 km2, within the 10 20 fathoms where reef fisheries occur (BFAR, 2009). Out of the 1,495 municipalities, 136 cities, and 81 provinces of the Philippines (as of December 2008), the Coastal and Marine Management Office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) considers 862 municipalities, 74 cities, and 92 provinces as coastal. From the point-of-view of economics and the military, the Philippines is strategically located, serving as the hub of Asia-Pacific navigational and shipping routes. The current Philippine register of merchant ships, ranked 13th in the world, is approximately 12.3 million gross registered tons (GRT) (DOTC, 2009). The Philippines is considered as a major supplier of seafarers of all ranks to the merchant shipping fleet of the world, being able to supply 40 percent of the world seafarers, out of 1.2 million seafarers worldwide (Adenekan, 2008). In fact, the number of seafarers being trained in maritime training institutes in the Philippines is close to 1.5 times the combined number of PR China, India, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Hongkong, Vietnam, and Bangladesh (Karandawala, 2009).
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Keywords : Prunus laxinervis
Encoded by : Mae Belen Llanza
