The Sulawesi Sea

Southern Mindanao seas like the Davao Gulf, Moro Gulf, and Sarangani Bay are continuous with the Sulawesi Sea, a large body of seawater about 450,000 square kilometers in area. Through the Sulawesi, these Mindanao seas are indirectly linked to the Pacific Ocean and the seas around Indonesia.

This fact helps explain the enormous development potential of the southern Mindanao seas and the Sulawesi itself, part of which lies within the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines. The Sulawesi, as marine environment, is characterized not only by its large size but also by the complexity of its bottom topography due to variable depths ranging from a couple of hundred meters to almost 6,000 meters, by its geological and tectonic features such as ocean trenches and underwater volcanoes, by its varied shallow and deep marine habitats, by its oceanographic features such as ocean water circulation and upwellings, and by its unique biodiversity.

The Sulawesi is an old oceanic body of water, as evidenced by the occurrence of the ancient lobe-finned fish or coelacanth, Latimeria manadoensis, thought to have been extinct 70 to 80 million years ago and believed to have evolved some 300 million years ago along with the ancestral stock of fish that gave rise to the present-day tetrapods (which include you and me). This species is the second to be discovered in the world. The chances are that it is also present in the Philippine Sulawesi.

It is speculated that aside from the coelacanth, some species of organisms that evolved in deep volcanic vents through chemosynthesis (not photosynthesis) could be found in the Sulawesi, but this needs confirmation, which could be part of the goal of a team of American marine biologists and oceanographers planning to conduct research on speciation in the deep waters of the Philippine Sulawesi using submersibles equipped with cameras.

Aside from the species mentioned above, there are already known unique species in the Sulawesi. A number of species of cowries a cone shells have been found in the Sarangani Islands. Such shells because of their rarity fetch high prices on the shell collectors' market.

There are a number of species of tuna and billfishes that are economically important. The tuna catch alone reaches 200,000 to 300,000 metric tons a year. The yellow fin tuna is a major Philippine export to Japan and the European Union. The skipjack provides the tuna canning industry the required volume to sustain the industry.

The economy of General Santos City is based on tuna from the Sulawesi. However, there is evidence that tuna conservation needs to be implemented by government to ensure sustainability.

Tourism in the Sulawesi Sea has potentials, especially if marine protected areas are established in both shallow and deep areas, the latter in bilateral cooperation with Indonesia.

Academic institutions in southern Mindanao can build research programs on fisheries, marine biodiversity, marine biology and oceanography based on the Sulawesi Sea.*