CALBAYOG CITY, Philippines — The four-month ban on
commercial fishing in the waters of nine coastal towns in Samar, along with
serious maritime police efforts, is seen as the ultimate solution to the
degradation of marine resources in the region.
The proposal earned the support of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
The Samar Sea Alliance, a group of maritime
stakeholders, earlier lobbied for a stop to the commercial fishing in the
towns’ waters in a bid to increase the catch of small-scale fishermen.
The proposal earned the support of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
“We need to enforce the total ban not next year but
now because of the depleting resources of Samar Sea and we have to act on this
for our future generation,” said Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, chairperson
of Samar Sea Alliance.
He said that based on their monitoring, about 50
species were fished in the sea in the 1980s but this number has been trimmed
down to 10 to observe fishery laws.
The alliance, he added, has forged an agreement to
secure the interest of Samar sea for the constituents and to give importance to
the fisherfolks whose livelihood are dependent on the treasures of such body
water.
The Calbayog City local government donated last month
two motorboats to the maritime police station.
The City Council also passed an ordinance seeking to
regulate the harvest or catch and sale of juvenile fish speciies known as
galunggong.
The city government allocated at least P2 million for
the purchase of up to 80 motorized pump boats to enforce the ordinance. That is
on top of the distribution of fish nets to identified dynamite fishers who
signified earlier their support to the program.
Samar Sea is situated between Bicol and Eastern Visayas. It is bordered by the islands of Samar to the east, Leyte to the south, Masbate to the west, and Luzon to the north. It covers the coastal waters of Almagro, Tagapul-an, Sto. Niño, Gandara, Sta. Margarita, Tarangnan, Daram, Pagsangjan and Zumarraga in Samar province.
According to a 1993 study conducted by Jurgen Saeger,
a German fisheries development specialist, the Samar Sea had been experiencing
a significant degradation of marine resources.
The expert found that the deforestation of surrounding
lands has led to increased silt from denuded mountains that choke coral reefs.
Only some five percent of reefs are considered to be in a healthy condition.
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