TUBIGON.- Coastal and marine life conservation was the order of the day as various delegates from different municipalities located along the Danajon Double Barrier Reef attended the Stakeholder Assessment Workshop conducted by the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation, Inc. (CCEF) at the JJ’s Foodstream in this town last May 25. The workshop was participated in by different municipal agricultural officers, fisheries technicians, planning officers, coastal resource management coordinators, Sangguniang Bayan members, coastal law enforcement chairs, and fisher folk representatives from different municipalities from Getafe, Buenavista, Inabanga, Clarin, and Tubigon. They are the municipalities from Northern Bohol under the Danajon Double Barrier Reef stretch. V-Mayor Virgilio Fortich in behalf of the municipality made the opening remarks and welcomed the delegates to the event. Rizaller Amolo of the CCEF gave the participants an overview of the Danajon Bank Marine Project. He further detailed the current and past projects undertaken by their organization in conserving the marine ecosystem.

After the overview, Ms. Analeh Patindol continued the rest of the workshop with the seat works and inputs involving the participants. First, the delegates identified the different stakeholders which included all the people, groups, and institutions affected by the Danajon Project. They identified all the possible stakeholders by writing them in met cards and posting in a chart. Furthermore, the participants classified the identified stakeholders by their power and interest in their project using a quadrant. The stakeholders were classified as follows; high power-high interest, high power-low interest, low power-high interest and low power-low interest. In another set of exercise, the segmented stakeholders were labelled as advocates, critics or neutrals towards the project. The corresponding strategies were to be applied to obtain the support of each stakeholders basing upon their interest in the project. The economic and environmental impacts of the activities of the stakeholders were also identified. The activity proved to be an insightful and a successful one as the empowered attendees vowed to do their share in educating and convincing the different stakeholders of their municipality to rally for their support of the goals and objectives of the project.

Danajon Reef, in a nutshell

As an overview, the Danajon Double Barrier reef is a unique ecosystem located off northern Bohol Island, is the only double barrier reef in the Philippines and is one of only three such sites in the Indo-Pacific. The reef is spread across almost 130 kms and consists of three large reefs. It is one of the few documented double barrier reefs in the world and is a very rare geological formation. It comprises two sets of large coral reefs that formed offshore on a submarine ridge due to a combination of favorable tidal currents and coral growth in the area. Danajon’s double barrier reef is a larger and better-defined structure than other known double barrier reefs in the world. The outer reef lies 11 km offshore, and is composed of several units up to 23 km long each. The inner barrier is 2 km wide and separated from the littoral by an inshore channel 26 m deep at most. Overall, the Bank is a most important source for biodiversity and a large breeding area for many species of finfish, shellfish and invertebrates.

It is also a critical pathway of the Asian southward bird migratory route. Danajon Bank plays a major role in the fishing industry of the Province of Bohol. About 54% of the fishers, 44% of the non-motorized boats and 62% of the motor crafts of the entire province are found in the 9 coastal municipalities bounding the Danajon Bank. In addition, it is a critical fishing ground for fishers from Cebu, Leyte, and Southern Leyte who have for many generations relied on fishing in the area for their subsistence and livelihood. A variety of management efforts has been initiated in the past and a few are ongoing in the Danajon Bank area. NGOs/donor supported projects worked with selected municipalities and resulted in coastal resource management initiatives such as activation of Pos, resource assessment activities, development of CRM plans, formulation of comprehensive fishery ordinances, the establishment of marine protected areas/marine sanctuaries, coastal law enforcement, activation of Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils (FARMCs) and introduction of livelihood projects.