Protecting the Visayan Sea

I like this article I co-wrote with my fellow correspondents. I learned about the importance of the Visayan Sea...

Protecting the Visayan Sea
By Jun P. Tagalog, Robert Leonoras and Jeehan V. Fernandez
April 2, 2005 | Businessworld

[Visayan Sea]
TF! Editorial Comment: The continued depletion of marine resources around the country, a negative trend in many of the world's coastal areas, stands in stark contrast to the general assumption of the limitless bounty of the seas. The article describes the considerable efforts that need to be undertaken by civil society organizations, local governments and indeed all stakeholders in order to ensure that coastal resources are not irretrievably lost, with consequent loss of livelihood, nutrition and environmental services among others. As an archipelago, the Philippines needs more groups like the Visayan Sea Squadron to stand up in defense of coastal ecology both for the present and future generations.



The Visayan Sea Squadron, which has drawn support from the provinces of Cebu, Negros Occidental, and Iloilo, was created to protect and preserve the Visayan Sea, a major fishing ground.

"We will dive in their waters and we'll show them what is deep inside," said environmental lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr.

The Visayan Sea used to be rich in sardines, herrings, and mackerel, but rampant blast fishing, unabated commercial fishing, cyanide fishing, over-fishing, and other destructive forms of fishing depleted the marine resources in the area.
Mr. Oposa, who initiated the creation of the squadron, said section 81 of the 1998 Fisheries Code requires local government units in coastal areas to devote 15% of their waters for a marine sanctuary.

Sonia Seville, Western Visayas regional director of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), said there are more than 20 cities and municipalities with around one million people on the coastlines of the Visayan Sea.

Mr. Oposa also said the squadron will help local officials pass an ordinance regulating fishing activities in their waters.

Under the Local Government Code, local government units (LGUs) are required to manage coastal zones up to 15 kilometers from the shoreline.
The squadron, which has drawn support from the provinces of Cebu, Negros Occidental, and Iloilo, was created to protect and preserve the Visayan Sea, a major fishing ground.

"Once the richest marine waters in the world, but now the hottest of all hotspots," Mr. Oposa described the Visayan Sea. If managed well, this fishing ground could feed a whole nation, he added.

Initially, Mr. Oposa said he heads a core group of four, with members who include a fish warden, police officer and a reformed fisherman. Through an information dissemination campaign, Mr. Oposa was optimistic they will be able convince the youth sector to participate in the conservation effort.

They also hope to solicit the help of the maritime police in catching fishermen who use dynamite and other illegal fishing methods, the BFAR in conducting an underwater survey, and the National Bureau of Investigation in tracing the source of blasting caps.

The squadron is based in Sta. Fe, Bantayan island north of Cebu. Mr. Oposa said they only have one pump boat, a speedboat, three dive sets, a laptop and an LCD (liquid crystal display) projector for audiovisual presentations to solicit public support.

The squadron, which is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has been conducting environmental awareness seminars among the youth.
The group is proposing a five-year ban on commercial fishing in the Visayan Sea to "let the marine life rest" and restore its wealth. If not, Mr. Oposa warned that the fishing industry will face total collapse.

The Visayan Sea used to be rich in sardines, herrings, and mackerel, but rampant blast fishing, unabated commercial fishing, cyanide fishing, over-fishing, and other destructive forms of fishing depleted the marine resources in the area, the group said in its petition filed before the BFAR.

Negros Occidental Governor Joseph Marañon said he was supporting the five-year ban.

The Visayan Sea, which covers about a million hectares at the heart of the Sulu-Sulawesi eco-region, stretches from the mouth of Danao River in Negros Occidental to the northeastern tip of Bantayan island and Madridejos in Cebu through the lighthouse on Gigantes island in Iloilo and further to Olutaya island and Culasi Point in Capiz.

It extends along the northern coast of Capiz to Bulacaue point in Carles, Iloilo to the mouth of the Talisay river, westward across the Guimaras strait to Tomonton point in Negros Occidental, eastward along the northern coast of Negros island and back to the mouth of Danao river in Escalante, Negros Occidental.

In Iloilo City, BFAR's Ms. Seville said efforts are being taken to protect the Visayan Sea through the Visayan Sea Coastal Resources and Fisheries Management Project. The project is assisted by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ).

The project aims to avert problems like decreasing productivity, widespread over-fishing, reduced fish sizes and catches, dwindling resources, illegal fishing gears and methods and difficulties in implementing fishing regulations.
Through the project, the improved coastal resources management practices are implemented by the local government units and communities.

These are marine protected areas, mangrove reforestation, fishing gear regulations, pollution control, improved post-harvest handling and aquaculture.
"Alternative business opportunities are also promoted," Ms. Seville said.

BFAR-6 assistant director Juliet B. Demo-os said the Visayan Sea Squadron would "strengthen law enforcement against illegal fishing in the area." But she said the local government units should also come up with the same strategy.

Dynamite Fishing
Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro City officials of the city are concerned over the over rampant dynamite fishing in three shoreline barangays.

During a city council session, Councilor Annie Daba, chairman of the committee on agriculture and fishery, said fishermen in Bulua, Bayabas, and Bonbon are employing dynamite fishing.

She said there is a need to stop the use of dynamite in fishing as this destroys the coral reefs and the marine ecology, which takes decades to restore.

She said the maritime police are helpless in stopping the illegal activity due to lack of gasoline for their pump boat.

Councilor Edgar Cabanlas said rather than relying on Republic Act No. 8550, or the Fisheries Code, as basis for catching the culprits, it was suggested that the city should adopt an ordinance on the matter.

Mr. Cabanlas said under the Fisheries Code, it is difficult to prosecute those who employ dynamite fishing due to evidentiary requirements such as chemical or forensic proof.

With a city ordinance, evidentiary requirements will not be as stringent, he added.

Earlier, a coalition of 11 nongovernmental organizations seeking reforms in the fishery sector, called for the amendment of the Fisheries Code.

In a statement, the National Coalition for Fisheries and Aquatic Reform proposed to amend section 4, paragraph 58 of article I "to rectify inappropriateness of the current definition by adopting the archipelagic principle in the definition or procedure in the delineation of municipal waters."

RA 8550 defines municipal waters to include not only streams, lakes, inland bodies of water and tidal waters within the municipality which are not included within the protected areas as defined under RA 7586 (National Integrated Protected Areas System law), public forest, timber lands, forest reserves or fishery reserves, but also marine waters included between two lines drawn perpendicular to the general coastline from points where the boundary lines of the municipality touch the sea at low tide and a third line parallel with the general coastline including offshore islands and 15 kilometers from such coastline.

Where two municipalities are situated on opposite shores that there is less than 30 kilometers of marine waters between them, the third line shall be equally distant from opposite shore of the respective municipalities.

The coalition also proposed as amendment to RA 8550 the total prohibition of commercial fishing in the whole 15-kilometer municipal waters, total ban on the use of "super lights" and the increase of fines and period of imprisonment for coral exploitation and exportation, conversion of mangroves into other uses, and illegal fishing. -- with a report from Ellen P. Red in Cagayan de Oro