Tangkaan Beach: Photo by Pol Lanting

Part II: Government Interventions

The Department of the Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is one of the two government agencies involved in resource management in the fisheries sector. It is currently implementing its own two large projects: the USAID-funded Coastal Resources Management Project (CRMP), and the Coastal Environment Program (CEP). But in its published report, the DENR does not say anything about the CRMP but talks only about the CEP. How many these projects are or where they are located, the DENR would not say.

The CEP aims to coordinate all activities concerned with resource and environmental management of coastal ecosystems involving communities in the protection and management of coastal zones. It relies heavily on information, education and communication (IEC) cum community organizing during the early stages to achieve higher levels of participation.

One concern of the program is to gather information on existing coastal resources at different CEP sites to serve as baseline data to help in understanding the dynamics of the ecosystem, in identifying alternative livelihood projects that allow for sustainable production, and to plan for the site's sustainable development. In 1997, a detailed assessment of the benthic cover and associated reef fishes was conducted in the different CEP sites of the country.

Communities are said to be the centerpiece of project implementation. Community organizing has been undertaken in different CEP sites to convince coastal dwellers of the need to protect their environment. To strengthen organizations, meetings were held by the CEP coordinators to thresh out problems and issues plaguing the existing associations.

Other activites included the installation of billboards within protected areas and linkages with other agencies and institutions.

Like the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture (BFAR-DA), the DENR also went into "alternative livelihood" projects to provide participants livelihood opportunities other than what they were traditionally practicing. Consultative meetings with potential beneficiaries were conducted to specify the kind of livelihood projects they wanted. A total of 96 livelihood projects were implemented in 1997 involving 5,234 coastal residents. Two of the livelihood projects mentioned by the DENR in its 1999 report were a fish brokerage project at Brgy. San Roque, Nueva Valencia, Guimaras, and blue crab harvesting technique in Concepcion, Iloilo. Whether these were successful or not is something they did not discuss in their report.

Coastal environmental protection is another activity under the CEP. This involved the organization and establishment of coastal protection groups, preparation of coastal protection plans, coordination with the bantay dagat (guarding the sea) task forces of the municipalities, and strengthening coastal environmental protection groups. Area maintenance and protection were harnessed at each site by the coastal protection groups/CEP associations or the existing bantay dagat of the municipality.

Gasoline and crude oil were provided to the task force to enable them to go after illegal fishers. In other CEP sites, foot and banca patrols have resulted in apprehensions and in cases being filed in the courts. In some CEP sites, illegally captured fish nets inconsistent with the provisions of fishery regulations were turned over to village chiefs for appropriate action. However, very few people have been convicted as a result of such campaigns either because those caught had the resources to pay the fine or violations were "settled" out of court - if the cases ever reached the court. In many of such cases, the violators often sought the help of political patrons.

Billboards and other warning devices were installed in strategic locations for information and education purposes regarding the existence of protected areas. How many or how effective these were, the DENR did not say.

Another component of the CEP is the rehabilitation of degraded coastal habitats. CEP sites found to be unvegetated or where there were previous cuttings of mangroves were rehabilitated by establishing new mangrove plantations. About 463 hectares of degraded mangrove areas were rehabilitated, and these are expected to draw back previous species of wildlife inhabiting the area. To this end, a total of 836,436 propagules of different mangrove species have been raised in 23 nurseries.

Coastal and inland water pollution monitoring is a vital activity of the CEP since the data generated serve primary river tributaries. Water sampling for the determination of dissolved oxygen (DO), bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) were made to determine the extent and degree of pollution within the rivers connecting the protected areas. Corresponding monitoring reports were prepared and investigations were conducted to come up with the necessary recommendations.

Public education and awareness on coral reef protection and management were highlighted through a photo exhibit in different parts of the country. Various photographs of coral reefs found in strategic areas of the Philippines were displayed. Also, a symposium on reef management has been conducted to discuss the status and geographic distribution of corals in the Philippines, the characteristics of coral colonies and reef systems, benefits from corals and their implications to conservation and management practices in the Philippines.(DENR 1997 Report)

BFAR Programs

For its part, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture (DA-BFAR) about nine years ago developed a program that attempted to address the impoverished state of municipal fisheries in the hope of conserving the country's remaining marine resources. In 1991, it implemented a Fisheries Sector Program (FSP) in 12 priority bays and gulfs.

Now, about nine years later, the same agency is again implementing a Fisheries Resources Management Project in 18 priority gulfs and bays, aiming to provide technical assistance and training to coastal communities and local government in managing their coastal resources. The project will assist communities develop coastal resources management plans through participatory processes. This will also involve the local government units. BFAR has not explained why it has to redo practically the same program in the same areas.

This program has six major components: resource and ecological assessment, coastal resource management, research and extension, law enforcement, credit and infrastructure. The coastal resource management (CRM) is said to be its "centerpiece". BFAR defines CRM as a set of "activities which achieve the sustainable use and management of the economically and ecologically valuable resource in coastal areas." It should "bring about the optimum utilization of coastal resources and bring perpetual benefits to the most number of users possible."(BFAR handbook)

Among its strategies are the inculcation of community participation, government intervention, NGO intervention and institution building. Hence, it goes into community organizing through the NGOs contracted for the said activities, this with the aim of getting the local fisherfolk to participate in the conservation efforts. At the same time, it encourages the local government units where its projects are located to draw up appropriate local ordinances responsive to the specific needs of the community, factoring in the degree of poverty in the area, the capacity of the people to shift to other livelihood sources, and the availability of alternative livelihood.

These come with the standard data banking that focuses on the bio-physical condition of the target communities and a description of the resource users in the communities. In the latter, the so-called participatory rural appraisal is being encouraged, although this may not be the standard procedure of the private agency contracted for the research. But such an appraisal comes under the heading of research whose primary objective is to help determine "what level of resource utilization is sustainable." What that level is, is usually open to various interpretations, depending on one's point of view and interests. It has remained largely an academic question that has never been resolved in practical community situations.

BFAR also engages in so-called "public education" which takes place in public meetings, fora, trainings and seminars, and the use of other information devices aimed at "changing people's values, beliefs and behavior in ways that are more compatible with sustainable use of resources." This is how the BFAR program hopes to create an awareness of the problem (depleted marine resource) and convince resource users (fishing communities) to have a higher regard for conservation. This is obviously one grey area in the BFAR program considering that its earlier CRM project has not halted the rapid depletion of marine resources even in the bays that these were implemented. Illegal fishing has continued, and so has the encroachment in municipal waters by commercial fishing boats.

Along the way, BFAR has set up protected areas or sanctuaries where fishing is limited or strictly prohibited. Sites are selected on the basis of their biophysical qualities and local governments are often asked to come up with local ordinances governing such sites. Here artificial reefs are constructed to help reestablish natural coral growth and rebuild marine life. Along shorelines, mangroves are replanted where necessary. Organizations and institutions are subsequently set up to guard these sanctuaries in cooperation with local law enforcers (police, bantay dagat). This is also where fisherfolks' organizations are valuable. The stronger the organization (in terms of the members' social awareness), the greater the chance that such sites will be protected.

How many such organizations still exists from the BFAR's project in 1991, its implementors would not say. In the author's observation, none of the organizations established in 1991 in three bays of Leyte island, where the project was implemented, has remained active to date. Among three projects evaluated by the BFAR in Eastern Visayas a few years ago, not one came from the BFAR project sites in 1991. The first two were those of NGOs which had no contract with BFAR. (Unpublished PFI annual report)

Finally, the BFAR also tries to offer "alternative livelihood" to fisherfolk displaced by the establishment of a fish sanctuary. It is also a strategy to ease pressure on the overfished sea. The BFAR offers credit funds to the fisherfolk so that they can start new livelihood ventures. But the options are usually very limited in coastal communities as these are not usually profitable areas for new economic activities. Moreover, fisherfolk normally have very few skills and low educational attainment that might enable them to find worthwhile alternative livelihood projects. Offered cash to borrow, some put up small sari-sari (variety) stores, fatten pigs in their backyards or use the money to rebuild their fishing boats. If the program has eased pressure on fishing at all, it has been minimal.