4 guvs, 22 mayors to discuss Visayan Sea protection, rehab

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — Four governors in the Visayas and 22 mayors from Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Masbate provinces have been scheduled to attend the Visayan Sea Protection Summit to be held on February 16-17 in Cebu.

Environment lawyer and summit convener Antonio Oposa yesterday said the officials are from local governments whose coastlines border the Visayan Sea, which now needs to be rehabilitated and protected.

Attending the summit will be Governors Alfredo Maranon Jr. of Negros Occidental, Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu, Arthur Defensor of Iloilo, and Rizalina Seachon Lanete of Masbate.

Maranon earlier said that others expected to attend are mayors from Negros Occidental, particularly from the cities of San Carlos, Escalante, Sagay, Cadiz and Victorias, and the towns of Calatrava, Toboso and Manapla-all coastal towns and cities in northern Negros Occidental facing the Visayan Sea.

They will join 14 other officials of LGUs in northern Cebu, northeastern Iloilo, and northern Masbate, which altogether form part of the Visayan Marine Triangle and has been considered by international scientists as the "heart of the center of marine biodiversity in the world."

The officials of these 22 LGUs will undergo seminars and workshops on how they could use their political power and resources to help in rehabilitating the now severely damaged Visayan Sea, Oposa said.

Decades of abuse and neglect have severely degraded the marine resources of the one-million hectare Visayan Sea and are now on the brink of collapse, Oposa earlier said.

Maranon said the efforts of rehabilitating the Visayan Sea, starting with the Visayan Marine Triangle, must start now and everybody should cooperate. We should have started "yesterday," he said.

Seventy percent of the rich marine resources, especially corals, of the Visayan Sea have been destroyed by cyanide fishing, blasting, trawling and use of compressors in catching fish, he said.

The governor said it will take at least five years to fully rehabilitate the damaged marine resources but a year or two of rehabilitation would see tangible improvements already.

When the Visayan Sea is fully rehabilitated, that will be the time to apply for its declaration and inscription in the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as National Marine Park, Maranon told The Freeman.

In 2010, four governors in the Visayas who signed a Declaration of Commitment to protect the Visayan Sea were Maranon, Garcia, Defensor, and Lanete, who was represented by Gen. Darius Tuazon and Police Supt. Feliciano Gubatan.

Republic Act 8550, or the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Act, prohibits commercial fishing within the 15-kilometer distance from the shoreline of municipal waters, said Maranon, adding that Bantay Dagat teams from the affected LGUs will patrol the seas against illegal fishing.

Maranon said the restoration of the Visayan Sea will succeed if illegal fishing is banned, a breeding sanctuary be established, and the national government will support LGUs with funding.  (FREEMAN)