how the fish are coming back in Panay, Capiz
unpublished, photos here
It’s a little-known fact that just 8 km from Roxas City, in the town of Panay, hangs the world’s second largest church bell. It’s likewise a little-known fact that much of the fish and shells exported from Roxas City, the country’s Seafood Capital, also come from Panay.
“We have about 7,000 hectares of fishponds and only 3,000 hectares of rice fields,” says Lerio Agdalipe, Panay’s Municipal Environment & Natural Resources Officer (MENRO). With 17.8 km of beaches, the town has the longest coastline in the province of Capiz. Eleven of its 42 barangays depend directly on the sea for their livelihood.
But with an abundance of resources also comes the illusion of infinite bounty. Overrun by commercial fishers intruding into their municipal waters, Panay’s fishing grounds yielded a mere 2.25 kg/catch by 1995. Eighty percent of the town’s coastal residents were in poverty. To remedy the situation, the municipal government launched the Panay Integrated Community-Based Coastal Resource Management Program (CBRMP) in February 1997. “Our objective was to restore, to protect the resources. We noticed that the marine resources had been depleted, and we at least wanted to do something to bring them back,” says Panay Mayor Felipe Barredo.
Even with much resistance and elections just a year away, Barredo pushed the implementation of the CBRMP—regulating fish structures in bays and rivers, prohibiting the construction of dikes in mangrove areas, banning trawl fishing in municipal waters—and still won as mayor for a second term, anyway.
The local government also invested in community organizing to involve the coastal barangays in improving the town’s fisheries. “We met with the trawl operators because we also wanted to understand their side,” says Barredo. In less than a year, 33 trawl operators voluntarily shifted to non-destructive fishing methods. At the same time, the government provided support for environment-friendly livelihood such as fish processing and mud crab culture in mangroves.
“We need the help of the community,” Barredo says, “They are the ones who live and fish there. ‘Pag wala nang resources, sila ang unang tatamaan.” He cites the town’s 22-hectare mangrove reforestation project that is now visited by communities from other provinces. The villagers used to cut mangroves for firewood, making their barangay vulnerable to a tsunami that killed hundreds of residents in 1984. Now community members themselves reforest the barangay and keep watch on the mangroves, realizing that not only do the mangroves serve as a buffer against typhoons, but also as a spawning ground for the fish that feed their families.
Because coastal law offenders are usually relatives of community members, Panay’s residents have become the best environmental educators and law enforcers. “Sila na mismo ang nakikiusap sa violators,” Barredo says. Panay also extended community organizing efforts in three other towns, forming a bay-wide inter-municipality law enforcement team partly assisted by the Canadian-funded Local Government Support Program and the Gerry Roxas Foundation. Fifty-nine illegal fishers were apprehended and fined in 2002. Unfortunately, only Panay continues to patrol the seas now.
“Mas mabigat yung pressure kasi nakapalibot ang violators,” he says. Other municipalities still allow some destructive fishing practices and even permit commercial fishers to fish in their municipal waters, which are adjacent to Panay’s. In spite of this, the administration persists with the unpopular CBRMP because as Barredo says, “We have to do it. Kasi kung hindi mo gagawin, who will do it?”
The sacrifice has definitely paid off. The ban on illegal fishing has resulted in a resurgence in prized capiz shells, shrimps, sardines, the famous delicacy, angel wing, and the unusual alimusan or marine catfish. While Panay’s coastal families were earning an average of P3,375 a month in 1995, the increase in fish catch raised their monthly income to P6,750 in 2000--25% higher than the poverty threshold.
This growth in income is what Barredo considers the CBRMP’s biggest accomplishment. “We see that their economic life has improved. Marami na silang pumpboat, hindi na madaling masira ng bagyo ang mga bahay, napag-aaral na nila ang kanilang mga anak,” he says. Instead of the 30 to 40 large fishing vessels that used to dominate the area, thousands of marginal fishers now benefit from the town’s municipal waters. The number of fishing permits issued to municipal fishers has increased from 92 in 1995 to 2,453 in 2002, generating more than P430,000 in local revenues.
Income from fines and permits go into a Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Trust Fund used for CBRMP initiatives such as mangrove reforestation and coastal law enforcement. For implementing a participatory CRM program without external funding, and for being the first local government unit in the Philippines to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the DENR to manage its own mangrove forests, Panay was awarded a special citation by the DENR for World Wetlands Day last February.
The biggest challenge, Barredo says, is still enforcement. Even after the dangers of apprehending illegal fishers at sea, justice is not easy to obtain. After filing a case against an illegal fisher in 2001, local officials until now have to deal with a countersuit filed against them by the accused. The local government has tapped the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), an NGO in Cebu, to assist with the case, since the government does not provide support to civil servants for countersuits.
Barredo says that in the end, law enforcers and fisherfolk will look at the moral values of their local leaders for inspiration and strength. He explains, “Sila ang nanghuhuli, nakataya ang buhay nila. May mga arms pa yung malalaking fishing vessel. Tapos makikita nila na may lumapit lang kay Mayor, quits na?” Fortunately, the community has shown its faith in him by voting him into office for a third term.
“There are many temptations and pressures,” he says, “Dapat consistent ka. Walang maliit o malaki, dapat pantay-pantay.” By being uncompromising in his administration’s pro-environment stand, Barredo hopes other people will realize the benefits of protecting their coastal resources. He says, “Ito rin yung vehicle na mas maintindihan yung ginagawa, that we’re doing it for everybody.”
It’s a little-known fact that just 8 km from Roxas City, in the town of Panay, hangs the world’s second largest church bell. It’s likewise a little-known fact that much of the fish and shells exported from Roxas City, the country’s Seafood Capital, also come from Panay.
“We have about 7,000 hectares of fishponds and only 3,000 hectares of rice fields,” says Lerio Agdalipe, Panay’s Municipal Environment & Natural Resources Officer (MENRO). With 17.8 km of beaches, the town has the longest coastline in the province of Capiz. Eleven of its 42 barangays depend directly on the sea for their livelihood.
But with an abundance of resources also comes the illusion of infinite bounty. Overrun by commercial fishers intruding into their municipal waters, Panay’s fishing grounds yielded a mere 2.25 kg/catch by 1995. Eighty percent of the town’s coastal residents were in poverty. To remedy the situation, the municipal government launched the Panay Integrated Community-Based Coastal Resource Management Program (CBRMP) in February 1997. “Our objective was to restore, to protect the resources. We noticed that the marine resources had been depleted, and we at least wanted to do something to bring them back,” says Panay Mayor Felipe Barredo.
Even with much resistance and elections just a year away, Barredo pushed the implementation of the CBRMP—regulating fish structures in bays and rivers, prohibiting the construction of dikes in mangrove areas, banning trawl fishing in municipal waters—and still won as mayor for a second term, anyway.
The local government also invested in community organizing to involve the coastal barangays in improving the town’s fisheries. “We met with the trawl operators because we also wanted to understand their side,” says Barredo. In less than a year, 33 trawl operators voluntarily shifted to non-destructive fishing methods. At the same time, the government provided support for environment-friendly livelihood such as fish processing and mud crab culture in mangroves.
“We need the help of the community,” Barredo says, “They are the ones who live and fish there. ‘Pag wala nang resources, sila ang unang tatamaan.” He cites the town’s 22-hectare mangrove reforestation project that is now visited by communities from other provinces. The villagers used to cut mangroves for firewood, making their barangay vulnerable to a tsunami that killed hundreds of residents in 1984. Now community members themselves reforest the barangay and keep watch on the mangroves, realizing that not only do the mangroves serve as a buffer against typhoons, but also as a spawning ground for the fish that feed their families.
Because coastal law offenders are usually relatives of community members, Panay’s residents have become the best environmental educators and law enforcers. “Sila na mismo ang nakikiusap sa violators,” Barredo says. Panay also extended community organizing efforts in three other towns, forming a bay-wide inter-municipality law enforcement team partly assisted by the Canadian-funded Local Government Support Program and the Gerry Roxas Foundation. Fifty-nine illegal fishers were apprehended and fined in 2002. Unfortunately, only Panay continues to patrol the seas now.
“Mas mabigat yung pressure kasi nakapalibot ang violators,” he says. Other municipalities still allow some destructive fishing practices and even permit commercial fishers to fish in their municipal waters, which are adjacent to Panay’s. In spite of this, the administration persists with the unpopular CBRMP because as Barredo says, “We have to do it. Kasi kung hindi mo gagawin, who will do it?”
The sacrifice has definitely paid off. The ban on illegal fishing has resulted in a resurgence in prized capiz shells, shrimps, sardines, the famous delicacy, angel wing, and the unusual alimusan or marine catfish. While Panay’s coastal families were earning an average of P3,375 a month in 1995, the increase in fish catch raised their monthly income to P6,750 in 2000--25% higher than the poverty threshold.
This growth in income is what Barredo considers the CBRMP’s biggest accomplishment. “We see that their economic life has improved. Marami na silang pumpboat, hindi na madaling masira ng bagyo ang mga bahay, napag-aaral na nila ang kanilang mga anak,” he says. Instead of the 30 to 40 large fishing vessels that used to dominate the area, thousands of marginal fishers now benefit from the town’s municipal waters. The number of fishing permits issued to municipal fishers has increased from 92 in 1995 to 2,453 in 2002, generating more than P430,000 in local revenues.
Income from fines and permits go into a Coastal Resource Management (CRM) Trust Fund used for CBRMP initiatives such as mangrove reforestation and coastal law enforcement. For implementing a participatory CRM program without external funding, and for being the first local government unit in the Philippines to sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the DENR to manage its own mangrove forests, Panay was awarded a special citation by the DENR for World Wetlands Day last February.
The biggest challenge, Barredo says, is still enforcement. Even after the dangers of apprehending illegal fishers at sea, justice is not easy to obtain. After filing a case against an illegal fisher in 2001, local officials until now have to deal with a countersuit filed against them by the accused. The local government has tapped the Environmental Legal Assistance Center (ELAC), an NGO in Cebu, to assist with the case, since the government does not provide support to civil servants for countersuits.
Barredo says that in the end, law enforcers and fisherfolk will look at the moral values of their local leaders for inspiration and strength. He explains, “Sila ang nanghuhuli, nakataya ang buhay nila. May mga arms pa yung malalaking fishing vessel. Tapos makikita nila na may lumapit lang kay Mayor, quits na?” Fortunately, the community has shown its faith in him by voting him into office for a third term.
“There are many temptations and pressures,” he says, “Dapat consistent ka. Walang maliit o malaki, dapat pantay-pantay.” By being uncompromising in his administration’s pro-environment stand, Barredo hopes other people will realize the benefits of protecting their coastal resources. He says, “Ito rin yung vehicle na mas maintindihan yung ginagawa, that we’re doing it for everybody.”
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