ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Region 9 office here of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR 9) has expressed alarm after it noted that some portions of the Talon-Talon-Mampang mangroves area in this city have started to denude, apparently done by illegal mangrove (bakawan) gatherers.

DENR-Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer Tito Gadon said they found areas of the Talon-Talon-Mampang mangrove site of having been denuded by unidentified gatherers.

“This is something that we are looking into seriously, considering that the area is protected and habitat for fish,” Gadon said.

Gadon also reported that they have recovered some bakawan poles in the area Friday during their surprise visit on the site, but failed to arrest or identify the culprits.

As this developed, he urged the people living in the coastal villages near the mangrove site to help them protect the area by reporting to authorities the people cutting mangroves for commercial or personal use.

Gadon said the integrity and sustainability of mangrove areas as habitat for wildlife, including migratory, endemic and endangered species, should be assured at all times.

Aside from their environment importance, mangroves have suffered considerably degradation, mainly from extraction of charcoal making and conversion to aquaculture ponds, he told reporters here.

Conversion and over-exploitation have caused the loss of over 70 percent of country’s original mangrove forest areas, with the remaining still threatened, he said.

This destruction of important marine habitats which depletes fish catches and diminish biological diversity, makes the rehabilitation of mangrove areas imperative, he lamented.