BACOLOD CITY – Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri vowed to work closely with local officials in southern Negros Occidental to protect the rich coastal areas of Sipalay City and Cauayan and Hinobaan towns, which he said have high ecotourism potentials.
Zubiri, whose family has roots in Talubangi, Kabankalan City, recently met with Mayors Teresita Bilbao and John Ray Tabujara of Hinobaan and Cauayan, respectively, and the heads of the coastal barangays on Danjugan Island in Cauayan to stress the important role that local governments play in sustainable coastal resource management.
Danjugan, which lies in the Sulu Sea and located three kilometers off Barangay Bulata, is a 43-hectare uninhabited and private wildlife sanctuary, which is home to 72 species of birds, 17 species of mangrove, 572 species of fish and 244 species of hard corals and other invertebrates. Its beach is also a nesting site for hawksbill and green turtles.
In 1999, the Negros Forest and Ecological Foundation Inc. (NFFFI) purchased the island and together with the World Land Trust, Land Bank of the Philippines, Coral Cay Conservation, Philippine Reef Reconstruction and Conservation Foundation and the provincial government worked on protecting the rich marine biodiversity in Cauayan, Sipalay and Hinobaan.
The group’s conservation program for Danjugan Island bagged the Best Managed Reef Award in the Philippines in 2000.
However, NFEFI chairman Gerry Ledesma said that while they have made breakthroughs in Danjugan, the coastline is still under constant threat of degradation mainly due to irresponsible fishing practices.
Zubiri said this still boils down to economics, explaining that the local communities need to have alternative sources of income and should realize that they have more to lose if they do not commit themselves to a sustainable coastal management program.
Dr. Stefan Groenewold of the German Development Service (GDS) cited studies showing the rapidly decreasing fish catch per fisherman. “This is reason enough to be alarmed,” he said.
Next to the Visayan Sea, the coast of Negros is very productive, he said.
The GDS is currently implementing the Southern Negros Coastal Development Program with the provincial government though the Provincial Environment and Management Office headed by Edwin Abanil.
The program includes organizing workshops on coastal resource management and planning, capability building and training.
Groenewold said that if the current one-hectare coral reef producing 140 to 350 kilos of fish yearly will be expanded to 2.9 hectares, fish catch would increase to 400 to 1,000 tons in southern Negros alone.
“It makes sense to work together,” he said, stressing local government cooperation. “They must realize that while there are three municipal waters, we are talking of only one ecosystem.”
So far, the three local governments have ordinances on basic fishery, delineation and coastal resource management.