Apo Is. people eye new marine sanctuary

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines  â€” The barangay council and residents of the world-renowned Apo Island in Dauin, Negros Oriental are eyeing for the establishment of a new marine reserve following the destruction of a large portion of the island's famous marine sanctuary in the past two years.

Barangay Chair Liberty Pascobello Rhodes told The Freeman  the plan however is still on the drawing board but the local council had already met to discuss it.

The plan has yet to get the approval of the island-community before the barangay council can come up with a resolution to be submitted to the Dauin municipal council for concurrence. It also has to go through rigid processes for the declaration of the new marine sanctuary as a protected area.

Scientists and researchers are assisting the Apo Island community in the proposed establishment of the new marine reserve.

Eileen Maypa, research director of the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF), disclosed there are certain matters to take into consideration, such as the socio-political and economic impact of the planned reserve, such as its site and size.

The proposed site is at the northwest portion of the island, where the reefs, a natural fish habitat, is still in good condition with an estimated 40 to 60 percent of coral cover. Fish in the area are still abundant and spillovers would provide for the fishermen's needs.

A few people however have opposed the proposed site, noting that it is a rich fishing ground and a no-take protected marine reserve will affect their livelihood, she said.

Apo Island is currently struggling with the devastation of about 99 percent of the coral cover at its marine sanctuary on the eastern portion of the island, but recent underwater survey showed that most of the coral reefs on the west side are still intact.

Typhoon Sendong in late 2011 and typhoon Pablo in December 2012 had decimated the corals in the marine sanctuary that was established in 1984, which led to the declaration of Apo Island as a Protected Landscape and Seascape.

Rehabilitation efforts by CCEF, the Silliman University Institute of Environmental and Marine Sciences, Greenpeace and other volunteer organizations are now underway for the restoration of the damaged corals that would take years, the earliest of which is within five years. (FREEMAN)