The Sea Destroyed

Somewhere in Palawan, there lives a seahorse named Antonio. He has a loving wife named Sofia and they have more than a thousand children. The couple lives in peace at the coral reef.

One day, while Antonio is taking care of the children inside their coral home, he notices a seahorse child outside, looking at their happy family. He gets out and approaches the child. Suddenly the child extends his arms towards Antonio.

Antonio is surprised by the child’s action and moves back. “Don’t touch me,” he tells the child.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Sir,” the child apologizes. “I only want to make friends with you. My name is Patrick.”

Convinced that the child means no harm, Antonio accepts the offer of friendship. “Ah, okay.” He says. “Call me Mr. A. We’re friends now.” Then he turns to usher Patrick to their home. “Please come in and play with my children.”

“No, Mr. A, not this time. My parents sent me on an errand,” Patrick explains. “Can I come back another time?”

“You can come here anytime.”

“Tomorrow? At this time?”

“Okay, tomorrow,” Antonio replies. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow then, Mr. A,” Patrick gladly confirms, “I’ll be right here.” Then he swims away.

The next day, Antonio and his children wait but Patrick doesn’t show up. The children are asking about their new friend, if he is coming at all or not. Antonio tells the kids to wait a little longer. “He’ll probably be here in a minute,” he tells them.

A few minutes more and Antonio begins to suspect something. He is feeling alarmed about Patrick. He gathers the kids. “Quick, let’s get away from here!” he orders and everybody obeys without asking.

While they are swimming away, Antonio notices fishes and other sea creatures floating nearby; many of them dead, some gravely ill. He looks up and sees fishermen putting poison in the water. Very quickly he tries to keep his children away from the poisoned waters.

Antonio remembers Patrick. “What if he comes to our house and be contaminated by the poison,” he thinks. He instructs his kids to go in a certain direction to avoid the poison, and he heads back home.

And, right, Patrick is there waiting for him. “Oh, there you are! I’m sorry to be late, but I had to take the long way here, since some fishermen were putting poison on my way.”

“It’s all right,” Antonio replies. “I understand. Come quick! Let’s get away from here before the poison can get to us!”

They swim away and rejoin with Antonio’s children somewhere. Luckily, all of them are safe. And they decide to stay far until the poisoning of the waters will have stopped.

The poor seahorses will have to stay away – until it is safe to go back and reclaim their homes again. The little ones are wondering what they have done to deserve their situation. Their father finds himself unable to explain.

What explanation is there of depriving helpless sea creatures of their natural habitat?  The greed of humans. And how will humans do without a vital source of their food? They die. So, destroying the sea with harmful fishing methods is like committing suicide for them.