Bataan to adopt RP’s first sea use zoning plan

BALANGA CITY — The Bataan provincial government is enforcing next month a comprehensive and integrated sea-use zoning plan, the first in the country, to protect marine ecosystems and ecological processes in Manila Bay.

Engineer Alexander Baluyot, chief of the Bataan Integrated Management Office under the office of Gov. Enrique Garcia, said the sea-use zoning plan was presented last Thursday to the project coordinating committee composed of local officials, heads of national agencies in the province and leaders of the business and industrial sectors.

Baluyot said the committee approved the sea-use zoning plan, which would protect the livelihood of fisherfolk and protect ecological balance and marine life.

He said the committee members suggested some inputs concerning topography and municipal boundaries.

Baluyot said the sea-use zoning plan was conceived to effectively confront problems in provincial waters such as pollution, destructive fishing methods, siltation, proliferation of informal settlers, and habitat degradation.

He said the groundwork for the sea-use zoning plan started in 2003.

Baluyot said the provincial board will officially adopt the sea-use zoning plan in a month’s time for enforcement in the waters of this city and 10 municipalities. Dinalupihan is the only landlocked town in Bataan.

Once approved, the Bataan sea-use zoning plan will be presented to the national project coordinating committee of Manila Bay for possible adoption by other cities and towns bordering Manila Bay.