GOVPH

14 March 2017 – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Sub-Committee on Navigation, Communications, and Search and Rescue (NCSR) approved the Philippine proposal to establish the entire Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park (TRNP) in the Sulu Sea as an Area to be Avoided (ATBA) to protect the fragile marine environment in the TRNP, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, during the NCSR’s fourth session at the IMO Headquarters from March 06 to 10.

Philippine Permanent Representative to the IMO and head of Delegation Gilberto Asuque and Prof. Jay Batongbacal, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, College of Law, University of the Philippines delivered the presentation at the Experts Group meeting, assisted by Capt. Eustacio Nimrod Enriquez, PCG, Maritime Technical Adviser, Philippine Embassy.

With the ATBA as the sole Associated Protective Measure (APM) over the TRNP, ship masters sailing through the Sulu Sea will be guided to plot a course that will not enter the Tubbataha Reefs and thereby reduce, if not eliminate, the risk of accidental ship grounding by keeping ships well away from the TRNP and its component coral reef atolls/structures.

The TRNP is designated as a national Marine Protected Area through Republic Act No. 10067 (known as the TRNP Act) enacted by the Philippine Congress to provide the national legal and institutional framework for the protection of the Tubbataha Reefs. The statute defines the TRNP boundaries, establishes the basic rules for the management of the TRNP, and provides for the authority of the Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board to manage the TRNP.

The ATBA is a necessary APM to comply with the decision of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at its session last year approving the designation, in principle, of the TRNP as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) subject to the approval by the NCSR 4 of the ATBA as an APM.

Aside from reducing, if not eliminating, the risk of ship grounding in the TRNP, the ATBA would allow for more time to respond to incidents of ships adrift or accidental discharges/pollution from ships travelling within the vicinity of the TRNP and prevent and reduce the risk of pollution or other damage to the marine environment.

NCSR 4 endorsed to the next meeting of the Maritime Safety Division (MSC 98, 07-16 June 2017) the adoption of the ATBA for the TRNP.  The decision of MSC 98 on the ATBA would be endorsed to the next meeting of the MEPC 71, 03-07 July 2017, for the final designation of the TRNP as a PSSA with the ATBA. 

A PSSA is an area that needs special protection through action by IMO because of its significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to damage by international maritime activities.                                                                                                                                          

When an area is approved as a particularly sensitive sea area, specific measures can be used to control the maritime activities in that area, such as routeing measures, an ATBA, strict application of MARPOL discharge and equipment requirements for ships, among other measures.

The decision of MSC 98 on the ATBA for the TRNP will take effect on January 01, 2018 after a six-month notification period for the global shipping industry.

The TRNP is an offshore reef complex in the middle of the vast Sulu Sea with an estimated surface area of 127,989 square miles (331,492 square kilometres). With the ATBA, all ships are able to navigate safely in the sea space beyond the TRNP. END