A Chinese militia vessel spotted near Pag-asa (Thitu) Island deployed a parachute anchor that damaged corals in the area, according to Filipino scientists.
Initial media reports claimed the militia ship ran aground on June 7, about 2.6 kilometers east of the island, well within its territorial sea.
However, a ground-zero damage assessment conducted on June 17 found no evidence of grounding, according to biologist Mark Dela Cruz, chief of the Habitat Management Section of the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD).
He explained that if the vessel had indeed run aground, the coral reef fragments would have been pulverized, which was not the case.
“In this case, we didn’t find any of those indicators… Instead, we saw indicators of damage like broken fragments of branching corals and chips of fragments of massive corals,” Dela Cruz said in a press conference at the West Philippine Sea Transparency Office headquarters.
However, the scientist said the Chinese militia deployed a parachute anchor that became embedded nine meters deep. Parachute anchors or sea anchors are typically used to stabilize a vessel and reduce its drift, especially in rough seas.
According to Ben Gonzales, a member of the PCSD’s scientific advisory panel, the Chinese parachute anchor damaged approximately 464.96 square meters of coral reefs — a loss valued at over P11 million.
Gonzales explained that PCSD values coral reefs at P12,000 per square meter, with an additional P12,000 per square meter needed for restoration.
He also warned that the anchor’s continued presence poses ongoing risks: it blocks sunlight, further harming the corals beneath it, and could move during strong surges or typhoons, causing additional destruction.
Dela Cruz said the parachute anchors currently remain in place, noting that their team is working on retrieving these: “We tried to remove the parachute, but the six-man team of divers cannot do that without equipment.”
