You plan to move to the Philippines? Wollen Sie auf den Philippinen leben?

There are REALLY TONS of websites telling us how, why, maybe why not and when you'll be able to move to the Philippines. I only love to tell and explain some things "between the lines". Enjoy reading, be informed, have fun and be entertained too!

Ja, es gibt tonnenweise Webseiten, die Ihnen sagen wie, warum, vielleicht warum nicht und wann Sie am besten auf die Philippinen auswandern könnten. Ich möchte Ihnen in Zukunft "zwischen den Zeilen" einige zusätzlichen Dinge berichten und erzählen. Viel Spass beim Lesen und Gute Unterhaltung!


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Showing posts with label Tubbataha Reefs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tubbataha Reefs. Show all posts

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Bigger Than Tubbataha Reef: Tanon Strait Deserves Protection

- and may get it at last!

 
 
Spanning 521,018 hectares between Cebu and Negros, the Tañon Strait is richer in marine diversity and about five times larger than the more famous Tubbataha Reef in the Western Philippine Sea.
 
And now, for the first time, community leaders of Visayan coastal fishing towns have finally met to address overfishing issues and to protect the country’s largest marine protected area (MPA). 
 
A general management plan was passed recently in hopes of harmonizing efforts to protect the reserve as underscored in Presidential Proclamation 1234 signed in 1998. The framework will help municipals and barangays along the reserve to draft five year-plans of action for the sustainable use of the reserve.
 
Over the last 17 years, the lack of a coordinated and clear policy within the reserve has caused weak law enforcement against overfishing and other illegal commercial activities, leading to declining fish catch. Today, a local fisher can bring home two kilos of fish after a day of fishing, down from an easy catch of five kilos in the 1970s.
 
Management plan, fishing studies needed
 
One of the leading marine scientists on Tañon Strait, Dr. Lemmuel Aragones, associate professor at the Institute of Environment Science and Meteorology at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, pushed for the reserve’s immediate protection and the creation of baseline studies therefor.
 
“The general management plan is a first step. The challenge is to ensure there are mechanisms for long-term commitment, continuous awareness program, and sustained action,” noted Dr. Aragones, one of the leading experts on Tañon Strait biodiversity since 1990.
 
For the program to work, Aragones urged community leaders to use science and help build better information about the area for sound policies under the general management plan.
 
For one, there is a lack of data on the volume of local fish catch in Tañon Strait. The latest data is about a decade old, from research published (http://oneocean.org/download/db_files/cv_fish_profile.pdf) by the team of Stuart Green, he noted.
 
“The lack of updated data is a setback. To develop and establish an effective management plan, it should be based on sound science or it will tend to fail like most Philippine plans on managing natural resources,” noted Dr. Aragones.
 
Some 43,000 registered community fisherfolk from Negros and Cebu in 298 coastal villages depend on Tañon Strait for food and livelihood. 
 
Miseducated, misenformed government leaders
 
While it is an open secret that there are Filipino commercial fishing activities in the area, law enforcement is difficult due to “overlapping and conflicting local policies, sometimes including vested interests,” explained lawyer Rose-Liza Osorio, Foundation for the Philippine Environment chairman.
 
During the three-day conference, the two-term mayor Nelson Garcia of Dumanjug, a town in Cebu, aired his dissent on the management plan’s provision to prohibit commercial fishing in the protected area.
 
People, not whale sharks or dolphins, should benefit first from the sea including the means of commercial fishing, according to Garcia, younger brother of former Cebu governor Gwen Garcia. 
 
“In my area, when there is a whale and they catch it, I will let them kill it. They are parasites, competing for the food of the people,” said Garcia, who mentioned that they eat at least 2 tons of fish while citing the Internet and a TV show as his source of information.
 
During the summit’s open forum, Garcia admitted that majority of his constituents work under commercial fishers that operate payaw or fish aggregating devices in Dumanjug’s municipal waters.
 
Osorio noted that Garcia's pronouncement strongly underscores the need to educate local leaders about the country’s environmental laws, especially for devolved functions.
 
Under a democratic process, Garcia has a right to air his voice, which “could be representative of other conference participants but are not interested to speak up,” noted Osorio.
 
Amending the law
 
Under the Fisheries Code of 1998, the first ten kilometers of coastal waters from the shoreline are reserved exclusively for municipal fishers, Meanwhile, the area from 10 to 15 km has a “use conflict” between municipal and commercial fishing activity due to some flexibilities under the law.
 
Bills to amend the Fisheries Code have been filed at the Senate and House of Representatives. A salient provision is increased penalties for commercial fishing violations to comply with international convention and avoid the European ban on marine products in case the Philippines fails to improve its “red card” standing before the Dec. 19 deadline.
 
Dr. Aragones reiterated the need to establish quality research to illustrate with evidence the declining fish production due to overfishing within Tañon Strait. 
 
Involving local communities
 
He added that involving the local communities to help gather this data by proposing commercial fishing moratoriums in the medium term of five to ten years to help gather a baseline data on the change and behavior of fishing populations, including whale sharks and dolphins, apex predators that help keep the balance of species populations in the sea. 
 
If funding is made available, a good study under the general management plan can also help quantify and qualify the impact of these top predators in terms of fish production, Dr. Aragones added.
 
In another interview, Oceana chief scientist Dr. Mike Hirschfield concurred and noted that strictly limiting the use of municipal waters to community fishers is key to the sustainability of Tañon Strait.
 
“A piece of the solution to overfishing is to separate small-scale fisherfolk from commercial fishermen but it only works if you can enforce that separation so that you can apprehend violators. Mayors in the area raised the challenge of how to do it,” noted Dr. Mike Hirschfield, chief scientist at Oceana, one of the convenors of the summit.
 
And the presence of whales and dolphins in the area, Dr. Hirschfield explained, should be welcomed. In fact, these species are bio indicators that the marine diversity supports good production to support the life of both humans and marine animals. They also offer additional livelihood from ecotourism.
 
Sustainable practices
 
“The reason to protect marine areas is easy: think of the fish as savings in a bank (sea). Don’t catch more than you can replenish, or you go broke easily,” explained Dr. Hirschfield.
 
“The Visayan community has the opportunity to do marine protection and conservation right in Tañon Strait. Whether it goes bankrupt or sustains itself, we will see in the plan and its implementation,” concluded Dr. Hirschfield. — TJD, GMA News

Monday, November 17, 2014

Tubbataha Reefs Hamiguitan Forest Named Asean Treasures

By Dona Z. Pazzibugan, Philippine Daily Inquirer


Tubbataha Reefs, Hamiguitan forest named Asean treasures
The world-renowned Tubbataha Reefs diving site off Palawan and the Mt. Hamiguitan forest in Davao Oriental have been officially recognized as among Southeast Asia’s most treasured parks.
During their meeting in Vientiane, Laos, last month, environment ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) approved the inclusion of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary among the Asean Heritage Parks.

The approval brings to 35 the number of Asean Heritage Parks, seven of which are in the Philippines.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the designation of the Tubbataha and Mt. Hamiguitan national protected areas as regional heritage parks was long overdue since the two had been recognized as Unesco World Heritage Sites.

The five other Asean Heritage Parks in the country are Mt. Apo Natural Park, Mt. Kitanglad Range Natural Park and Mt. Malindang Range Natural Park—all in Mindanao; Mt. Iglit-Baco National Park in Occidental Mindoro; and Mt. Makiling Forest Reserve in Laguna.

“This latest recognition indicates that the natural characteristics of both Tubbataha and Mt. Hamiguitan are so exceptional that they deserve to be protected for the benefit of everyone in Southeast Asia,” Paje said in a statement.

Asean Heritage Parks are marked off as areas “of high conservation importance” as key biodiversity areas.

Located 181 kilometers southeast of Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park is at the very center of the Sulu Sea.

The park contains roughly 10,000 hectares of coral reefs and more than 86,000 hectares of surrounding waters, lying at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the center of global marine biodiversity.

The Tubbataha marine sanctuary is home to diverse marine life, including at least half of all coral species in the world and about 80 percent of all coral species in the Philippines.

Green sea and hawksbill turtles, as well as rays and sharks, are common in the reefs. Pelagics such as tuna, mackerel, jacks and barracuda are observed in schools near the reef crests.

The Tubbataha marine sanctuary was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1993.

Established in 2004, the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary covers 6,834 hectares of seven barangays (villages) in Davao Oriental.

Standing at 1,637 meters, Mt. Hamiguitan is surrounded by forest land, including a bonsai field or “pygmy” forest of 100-year-old trees on ultramafic soil.
The trees within the mossy pygmy forest stand an average of only 1.4 meters, with a diameter of eight centimeters. One of the dominant species that can be found only in this forest type is the tinikaran or red fig tree (scientific name Wendlandia nervosa).
Other rare plant species found on Mt. Hamiguitan include the slipper orchid, nepenthes, staghorn fern, rhododendrons and Philippine hardwoods, such as yakal and tangile.