“The Bohol Coral Triangle, a major fishing ground, generates $3.4 million of revenues from fishing activities annually,” said the United Nations Environment Programme. Apart from this, the UN added, the reefs also attract tourists, another income generator for the province.  This transpired during the holding of the UN Environment Programme’s Land-Ocean Connection Conference in Manila recently. But despite huge revenues derived from the coral reefs, perpetual destruction, either by tourists and fishers by deleterious fishing methods, of some of the dive spots here is still unabated, said the DENR. DENR through the Protected Areas Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) said that only four percent of the reefs or about 26,000 square kilometres are in excellent condition. PAWB, however, did not say how much or serious the destruction of reefs in Bohol.

Bohol Coral Triangle is located within the Bohol Marine Triangle composed the areas of Panglao island, where the Balicasag island dive site is, Baclayon, where the Pamilacan island is located and Tagbilaran, said Edmundo Regadas, chief of DENR’s coastal marine division of region seven in interview. It was learned that what the Bohol Coral Triangle (BCT) generates may not be the same what the Danajon Double Barrier Reef, also a rich fishing ground located in the northernmost of the province, produces as far as income is concerned, DENR here said.

Risk

With this scenario (coral condition), the DENR warned that food security in the country, Bohol included, is put at risk since the impact of deteriorating marine life “is already felt in the Philippines.” The Department of Agriculture said that about 80% of the protein requirement of the Filipinos is supplied by marine harvest. In Bohol, marine products also are the main source of Boholanos, most of whom resides in 30 coastal towns. Over-exploitation, illegal fishing practices, pollution and rising ocean temperature and acidification contribute much to the deterioration of marine harvest over the years. “Our coasts and seas have suffered heavy degradation wrought by over half a century of destructive practices,” said the DENR through PAWB director Mundita Lim’s presentation. The Department of Agriculture added that the degradation is obvious based on the decline of fish catch, wherein commercial decreased to 16.3% and municipal production, 2.9%. “Coral reefs are considered underwater forests because of their complex ecosystem that supports a huge amount of wildlife. They are also carbon sinks and a major mitigator of climate change,” it said.

BEMO efforts

The need to reverse the situation is paramount like some municipalities in Bohol are maintaining and declaring their marine protected areas (MPA) off-limits while others try to establish new ones to increase fish stock and allow species to breed without interruption. The Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) an attached office to the governor’s office is still making rounds of inspection and conduct monitoring and evaluation efforts for upgrading of the MPAs and capability development activities. MPAs are considered as cost-effective way of protecting the ecosystems, which is also a source of livelihood and visitors’ attraction, such as in Pamilacan island, off Baclayon town. “Of the 800 coral species in the world, 500 can be found in the Philippines, making its seas one of the most diverse in the world,” DENR said. UN said that “healthy reefs can produce up to 35 tons of fish per square kilometer.”

Mabaw Reef

Municipal Mayor Leoncio Evasco of Maribojoc town is batting for the unrelenting education and advocacy campaign by the stakeholders to pursue environmental preservation and protection, particularly marine and coastal areas. Also being pushed is the shifting of social and behavioral patterns of the stakeholders towards environmental preservation particularly the marine protection for sustainability and food security. These are the concerns being considered Mayor Evasco and RARE people led by Brett Jenks, chief and executive officer and president recently. RARE is a “U. S. based conservation organization, works globally to equip people in the world’s most threatened natural areas with the tools and motivation they need to care for their natural resources.” The group with the participation of local counterparts, including those assisting the preservation of Mabaw Reef within the vicinity of the city’s coastal area led by Venal Edquilag, took a visit of another piloted marine protected area (MPA) of Hambongan sanctuary in Inabanga town and in Mabaw reef. (RVO)