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Assignment 2

The Tawilis, a freshwater sardine endemic to Taal Lake in the Philippines, has been listed as an endangered species by the IUCN. According to their reports, the population has declined by 50% over the last 10 years due to overfishing, pollution, invasive species, and habitat loss. To prevent extinction, the government needs to regulate fishing, remove invasive species, clean up the lake, and monitor the Tawilis long-term to allow recovery of the population. The endangerment of the Tawilis highlights how human activities like overexploitation of resources can drive species to extinction when proper conservation efforts are not made.

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TRISTAN ANDREI TIGAS
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44 views3 pages

Assignment 2

The Tawilis, a freshwater sardine endemic to Taal Lake in the Philippines, has been listed as an endangered species by the IUCN. According to their reports, the population has declined by 50% over the last 10 years due to overfishing, pollution, invasive species, and habitat loss. To prevent extinction, the government needs to regulate fishing, remove invasive species, clean up the lake, and monitor the Tawilis long-term to allow recovery of the population. The endangerment of the Tawilis highlights how human activities like overexploitation of resources can drive species to extinction when proper conservation efforts are not made.

Uploaded by

TRISTAN ANDREI TIGAS
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© © All Rights Reserved
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42 – TIGAS, TRISTAN ANDREI F.

SIR JORGE ANTON ORDAS


1A21 STS

Endangered Future
Tawilis (sardinella tawilis) or the bombon sardine which is endemic to the
Philippines, specifically to Taal Lake, has now been listed as part of the ‘endangered’
species as per the reports of the IUCN or International Union for Conservation of
Nature.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the global authority
and regulatory body that deals with the status of the natural world and comes up with
measures to safeguard it. Last 2018, it released reports regarding the decline in
population of the Tawilis, the only known genus of the Sardinella that is able to live and
exist in fresh water. By January of this year (2019), reports showed that population of
Tawilis has declined by at least 50% over the last 10 years which qualified it to be
endangered.

According to the assessment of different environmental bodies such as the IUCN


itself, overexploitation, pollution and contamination of habitat, bad aquaculture, and
competition among other introduced species led to the decline of the endemic species.
It was said that overfishing was apparent and that illegal fishing efforts were widespread
around the lake wherein fishermen made use of motorized nets and fish cages.
Pollution in the waters can also be observed leading to deterioration of the water’s
quality and biodiversity. Furthermore, the introduction of the Tilapia, which is known to
be an invasive and a more dominant species, has also affected the decline of Tawilis in
the Taal Lake. To prevent the inevitable extinction, the government should regulate and
if possible, ban the fishing of Tawilis until it rehabilitates. They should also set up
programs to clean the waters of Lake Taal and remove other invasive species of fishes
in the lake to enable the Tawilis to populate. Afterwards, create a long term program to
monitor and regulate the Tawilis species so that it may not decline again.
Aside from the Tawilis, there are a lot more species of animals that are currently
being put into the endangered list while some are even declared to be extinct. This is
very disheartening because this proves how we as stewards and caretakers fail to do
our jobs to cultivate the plants and animals around us. Furthermore, this also shows
how society and man in general continue to take our resources for granted. It is not
unknown to us that there is scarcity everywhere and in everything hence, our response
to that should be to properly and carefully utilize these resources in the most efficient,
productive, and sustainable way. The way things are now, we are just carelessly
destroying the biodiversity and the planet as a whole because most of us do not think of
the future, we only look into the present which is why we lack the sustainable mentality
in approaching our natural resources.

As man endowed with rationality and intellect, it is up to us to protect, nurture,


and enrich our resources and wildlife. Relating to the sustainable development goals of
the United Nations, we should protect the life below water as well as life on land.
Moreover, we should direct our advancements in technology to rehabilitation and
restoration of our environment to enable sustained life on our planet. As a society of
scientific and technological breakthroughs, we can pave a way for a more conducive
environment for our wildlife and biodiversity to make our world last for countless of
generations to come.

Sources:
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1076875/tawilis-now-on-the-list-of-endangered-species
https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/01/24/tawilis-now-an-endangered-species/
https://www.rappler.com/science-nature/environment/221900-denr-monitor-taal-
endangered-tawilis-population
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2016/03/05/saving-the-rare-tawilis/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sardinella_tawilis
https://www.iucn.org/

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