Pangasinan coastal towns yielding more fish catch
December 8, 2003
By Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Inquirer News Service - Philippines
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- It takes the fishermen themselves, with a little help from the government and non-government sectors, to revive the dying Lingayen Gulf.
Fishermen in the towns of Anda, Bolinao and Bani and Alaminos City reported that their daily catch has "considerably increased" after the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the coastal towns.
There are 11 marine and 12 mangrove protected areas, also called sanctuaries, in Anda, Bani, Bolinao and Alaminos, covering 386 hectares. Fishing is strictly prohibited inside the sanctuaries but fishermen can fish around or near the areas.
The people's organizations that established the MPAs issued this report in a symposium on MPA management of the Lingayen Gulf recently.
The symposium was sponsored by the Marine Environment Resources Foundation (MERF), a University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute-based organization.
In Bolinao, Jessem Gabatin, president of the Samahan ng Mangingisda at Mamamayan ng Balingasay (Sammabal), said their daily catch near the fish sanctuary in the village has increased from a quarter of a kilogram four years ago to three kgs this year.
The Sammabal has been maintaining a 14.77-hectare fish sanctuary since 1999 where the coral cover is surveyed to be growing at the rate of 5 percent yearly.
It has also become a model sanctuary that is visited and studied by groups of local and foreign fishermen and NGOs.
Paolo Pagaduan of the UP Social Action and Research for Development Foundation said the establishment of the sanctuaries had resulted in the decrease in illegal fishing by residents in Anda.
In Bani, Fred Botardo, the town's agriculture officer, said 33 hectares in Barangay San Miguel have been reforested with mangroves.
http://www.inq7.net/reg/2003/dec/08/reg_6-1.htm
December 8, 2003
By Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes
Inquirer News Service - Philippines
LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- It takes the fishermen themselves, with a little help from the government and non-government sectors, to revive the dying Lingayen Gulf.
Fishermen in the towns of Anda, Bolinao and Bani and Alaminos City reported that their daily catch has "considerably increased" after the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the coastal towns.
There are 11 marine and 12 mangrove protected areas, also called sanctuaries, in Anda, Bani, Bolinao and Alaminos, covering 386 hectares. Fishing is strictly prohibited inside the sanctuaries but fishermen can fish around or near the areas.
The people's organizations that established the MPAs issued this report in a symposium on MPA management of the Lingayen Gulf recently.
The symposium was sponsored by the Marine Environment Resources Foundation (MERF), a University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute-based organization.
In Bolinao, Jessem Gabatin, president of the Samahan ng Mangingisda at Mamamayan ng Balingasay (Sammabal), said their daily catch near the fish sanctuary in the village has increased from a quarter of a kilogram four years ago to three kgs this year.
The Sammabal has been maintaining a 14.77-hectare fish sanctuary since 1999 where the coral cover is surveyed to be growing at the rate of 5 percent yearly.
It has also become a model sanctuary that is visited and studied by groups of local and foreign fishermen and NGOs.
Paolo Pagaduan of the UP Social Action and Research for Development Foundation said the establishment of the sanctuaries had resulted in the decrease in illegal fishing by residents in Anda.
In Bani, Fred Botardo, the town's agriculture officer, said 33 hectares in Barangay San Miguel have been reforested with mangroves.
http://www.inq7.net/reg/2003/dec/08/reg_6-1.htm
