Spotting whales in Davao Gulf

DAVAO CITY — Under a hot morning sun amidst the choppy sea of Davao Gulf, with the southern tip of Island Garden City of Samal rising in the horizon, a sudden burst of water spout blew out of the water, startling off fisherman Usman Malumod, 37, as he pulled up his fish net with several moro-moro fish still leaping up and down. 

Although he had seen this sight a few times before, it can be scary at times seeing these big black, shiny boulder-like creatures rise above the sea, flushed their suspicious eyes at him, before sinking back underwater, waving their huge wet tails and swishing water all around. 
It was a group of sperm whales taking a breath of fresh air in the Davao Gulf, a very unlikely place of all other places where these whales are supposed to be found in the world’s oceans. 
Jose Lorenzo Tan, head of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in the Philippines, said the Davao Gulf is the home of some 10 species of whales, a fact that’s surprising even for most Davao and Samal Island residents. 
“It’s a good place for whales seeking refuge to breed and take it easy before returning to the world’s oceans,” Tan said. 
Sighted at the Gulf in recent years, according to Tan, are the sperm whales, pilot whales, killer whales, bottlenose dolphins, beaked whales, Fraser’s dolphin, long snout spinner dolphin, Risso’s dolphin and even the longman’s beaked whale, the least known and rarely-studied among the world’s whales. 
Eight of these 10 whales were cited by the Committee of Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) to be among the rarest and most endangered. 
The presence of these whales in the Davao Gulf, according to Tan, suggest that the harsh effects of global warming are forcing these whales to seek cooler and safer places in the world’s oceans like the Davao Gulf, where these whales feel more comfortable, turning it into a good breeding ground. 
“That’s why it’s so important to protect the natural conditions of the Davao Gulf which are still intact and perfect for breeding whales coming from Pacific Ocean and the seas of Indonesia,” says Tan. 
Although the Davao Gulf looks secured and protected from devastating typhoons hitting Luzon and the Visayas almost regularly, it has its own set of problems that must be confronted and settled before it loses its natural advantages to other places in the Asia-Pacific area. 
“If these environmental problems are not addressed sooner, whales will see, smell and find that the Gulf is no longer suitable and safe for them” says Tan. 
Worried that whales might start leaving Davao Gulf and seek safer shelters in the seas of Indonesia, the WWF recently joined hands with the Davao Gulf Management Council (DGMC) to figure out what to do to save the Gulf. 
Some of the things they agreed to do together were to study the effects of industrial pollution and agriculture chemicals being dumped in the Gulf by factories and plantations. They called this an “environmental sensitivity index” or ESI that will survey and map the Gulf in the next three years. This ESI mapping will figure out just how serious the growing environmental problem is in the Davao Gulf.
Covering an area of over 8,000 square kilometers, the Gulf is bounded by over 600 kilometers of coastline. What really worries them, according to Margie Moran Floirendo, DGMC secretary general, is that Davao Gulf is a major transhipment point of both foreign and domestic shipping vessels, which makes it vulnerable to big environmental disasters like oil spills from sea accidents. 
The entire coastline of the Davao Gulf is bounded by four provinces, 18 towns and five cities with several banana plantations, and mining operations that make this huge body of sea water highly exposed and susceptible to pollution coming from farm chemicals and mining wastes like mercury and cyanide. 
“We’re all worried about all these pollution coming from plantations and mining, as well as garbage and siltation” says Floirendo who has devoted much of her time trying to save the Davao Gulf. 
Floirendo says the presence of whales in the Davao Gulf is a sign that the sea waters and the feeding grounds for various species of fish, including tuna, are still intact—but facing a growing threat from pollution, garbage and siltation. 
Today, the Davao Gulf remains to be one of the country’s major fishing grounds where nearly 20,000 fishermen depend for their daily survival. (Aurelio A. Pena/PNA)