Mobod Fish Sanctuary

In the News Commentary

Posted: 6:58 AM (Manila Time) | Oct. 29, 2002
By Vic Vic Villavicencio
Inquirer News Service

FISH sanctuaries, Vic Milan tells us after finishing his island-hopping odyssey, are what may yet save our heavily battered marine environment.

The bright spots in his 3,317-kilometer, 82-day adventure were the fish sanctuaries that he and his team visited. Easily topping his list is what started as a shellfish sanctuary in Oroquieta Misamis Occidental. Starting with only 5 hectares, this sanctuary has been expanded to 20 hectares, marked not just with buoys but with bamboo poles, with a walkway to the mainland for easy access... and fully funded by the local government.

Not that everything went as a walk in the park. There were the usual resistance and objections from fishermen who felt this was a curtailment of their freedom to harvest marine products in their traditional fishing grounds. It took a lot of political will on the part of the Bandala couple, LGU heads, to start the project. They lost votes in the elections because of this. But the fisherfolk now realize that sanctuaries are, after all, a good thing. Their fish catch outside the sanctuary has improved, and they look forward to still improved harvests in the coming years.

Allowed to swim and snorkel in the protected waters, as an exception to the rules and for research and educational considerations, Vic Milan was impressed by the abundance of marine life: mullets, groupers, mangrove and other snappers, shellfish, sea urchins, young barracuda, sea grass.

Another successful sanctuary is the one on Gilutongan Island off Cordova on Mactan Island in Cebu. The sanctuary is attracting scuba divers from the resorts nearby. As many as a dozen or more dive boats daily have earned the sanctuary over one million pesos in user fees from January to August. And more expected as European tourists arrive on the days toward December.

We agree with Milan's observation that it takes local government leaders with conservation and environment protection sense, and political will, to make successful fish sanctuaries.

A chain of successful, passionately protected and managed sanctuaries all over our islands may yet turn things around for our fishery resources.

Source: Commentary - Fish Sanctuary

By: Ofelia Bayutas Mutia "Angging"