Word: archipelago
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Nowhere in the world have they been subject to more abuse than in the Philippines, says University of the Philippines marine scientist Edgardo Gomez. According to environmentalists, a staggering 90% of the archipelago's 13,000 sq. mi. of reef is dead or deteriorating. Among other things, Philippine reefs are being buried by tons of soil that washes from deforested tracts of land. They are also being damaged by pollution that seeps from factories, farm fields and sewers. But above all they are being destroyed by too much fishing...
...What's the pattern here, Cap?" asks Deputy Commissioner Jack Maple, the department's thickset, dandyish crime guru. Using a laser pen, Maple scrawls on an overhead map, tracing robbery patterns the way John Madden diagrams football plays. Maple circles an archipelago of red dots: muggings along Ninth Avenue. "What are you doing to take these guys...
...nearly 20% drop-off from one year ago, pushing the network ever deeper into third place (in one ignominious week in September, it even fell to fourth, behind Fox). Earnings were off 55% for the first nine months of 1995 compared with last year. The network has lost an archipelago of important affiliates, as well as such longtime executives as former broadcast chief Howard Stringer. Even David Letterman, one of the network's few bright spots, has fallen behind Jay Leno in the ratings, prompting the moody late-night host to talk about quitting when his contract...
...Galapagos' astonishing variety of animal life, however, that has captivated visitors ever since De Berlanga, whose ship was blown off course en route from Panama to Peru, stumbled on the archipelago. Because the chain was never attached to any other land mass, all the resident species are descended from ones that flew, drifted, swam or were carried there. Ninety-five percent of the reptiles, 50% of the birds, 42% of the land plants, 70% to 80% of the insects and 17% of the fish live nowhere else in the world. Among them: giant tortoises, Galapagos penguins, waved albatrosses, flightless cormorants...
Efforts to protect this natural laboratory began as early as 1934, when some islands were set aside as wildlife sanctuaries. The national park was created in 1959; in 1986 more than 27,000 sq. mi. of ocean in and around the archipelago was designated a Marine Resources Reserve, and four years later the inland waters also became an International Whale Sanctuary. The Galapagos have also been designated a unesco World Heritage Site and a Man and the Biosphere Reserve...