THE Ubians of Mindanao have so many things in common with the clown triggerfish, green turtle, humpback whale and the manta ray. They all live in the Philippines, which sits at the apex of the earth’s Coral Triangle.
The Coral Triangle covers 6.5-million square kilometers, or almost half the size of the United States, that is home to 3,000 fish species, including whale sharks (the world’s largest) and the coelacanth that predates dinosaurs—and over 600 reef-building corals, 75 per cent of all species known worldwide.
The Coral Triangle covers the waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. It is listed by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) as one of the world’s priority conservation areas.
Most people in the Coral Triangle live on the shores, in cultures in balance with nature, with unrivaled skills in boat building and nautical navigation.
Like the Ubians, a nomadic, seafaring people, depending on the sea for trade and subsistence fishing. They reside on and around islands in Mindanao, as well as around Kudat and Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia.
Often living in houses erected on stilts, Ubians travel by handmade canoes where they also live when they are not in sea cucumber cultivation, boat-making and civil service.
In Mindanao, the Ubians are the largest group of the Bajau, the original Sea Gypsies.
They live on many islands of the Philippines and its seas, as well as sizable minorities living around the towns of Kudat and Semporna in Sabah, Malaysia. They have been driven by conflict to Sabah where they are the second largest ethnic group, and have migrated as far as Sulawesi and Kalimantan in Indonesia.
Wildlife
A myriad of life exists in the rich triangle, like the bottlenose dolphins, relatives of the Electra dolphins stranded in Bataan this week.
Bottlenose dolphins have been trained by military groups for tasks such as locating sea mines or detecting and marking enemy divers. In some areas they cooperate with humans by driving fish towards fishermen and eating the fish that escape the fishermen’s nets.
Bottlenose dolphins can live for more than 40 years but they are hunted for food or killed as a bycatch of tuna fishing.
The clown triggerfish is rare and most commonly found around coral reefs. Because of its attractive colors, it is one of the most highly prized aquarium fish.
Then there is the green turtle, about 100,000 of which are killed in the Indo-Australian archipelago each year. It is threatened by over-harvesting of both eggs and meat, and from accidental mortality in the nets and long-lines of fishing fleets.
The humphead wrasse is one of the largest coral reef fishes. It is highly vulnerable to over-exploitation because of its natural rarity, late maturity, longevity, predictable spawning sites and hermaphroditism (the fish is born as one sex and changes into the other sex later in its life).
Only the male humpback whale produces the long, loud, complex “songs” for which it is famous. Each song typically lasts from 10 to 20 minutes and may be repeated for more than 24 hours.
Humpback whales of the North Atlantic sing the same song, and those of the North Pacific sing a different one. Each population’s song changes slowly over a period of years—never returning to the same sequence of notes.
The manta ray is the largest of the rays, with the largest more than 25 feet across and weighing 2,300 kilograms. To swim better through the ocean, they have a diamond shaped body with pectoral fins as graceful “wings.”
This summer, SeaWorld Orlando will debut its Manta, a flying roller coaster themed to resemble the manta ray.
Then there is the dugong, which is referred to in the Bible by the phrase “sea cow” in several places in Exodus (25:5 & 26:14) and in Numbers. Its hide may have been used in the construction of the Tabernacle, if the dugong indeed corresponds to the Biblical animal tachash.
“Dugong” comes from Tagalog, in turn adopted from the Malay “duyung,” both meaning “lady of the sea.”
In the Philippines, it is mostly found in Palawan, Romblon and Guimaras. It is a large marine mammal hunted for thousands of years, often for its meat and oil, and is close to extinction.
When seen from above, the top half of a dugong appears like that of a woman. Coupled with the tail fin, mariners often mistook it for an aquatic human, probably the origin of the mermaid myth.
SPECIAL REPORT:BEACHED DOLPHINS
By Paul M. Icamina, Special Reports Editor |
News & Updates 
