OVER SEAS -- The Online Magazine for Sustainable Seas

Davao del Sur

The focus of CRMP’s efforts in Davao del Sur are six municipalities -- Padada, Hagonoy, Sulop, Malalag, Sta. Maria and Digos -- covering an area of 85,948 hectares with a population of 56,514 persons and a coastline stretching to 66 km. Five expansion sites have been identified -- Sta. Cruz, Malita, Don Marcelino, Jose Abad Santos and Sarangani Island -- covering an area of 190,499 hectares and a coastline of 191 kms. Majority of the residents in these coastal areas are engaged in fishing and derive their income mainly from fishing the nearby 65-sq km Malalag Bay. Intense exploitation of marine resources has caused the degradation of the coastal environment. Malalag Bay’s live corals once covered 1,020 hectares -- this area has been reduced to a mere 113.4 hectares, primarily because of the prevalence of illegal fishing practices but also partly because of chemical wastes from agriculture and fishponds. To reverse the trend, the government has imposed, since 1992, a gradual banning of compressors. A 50-hectare fish sanctuary has been established in the area, and public awareness of coastal issues is growing.

Fisheries Code Gets Good Feedback
CRMP organized last April 16 a consultative workshop on the new Fisheries Code, which was signed into law last February. The workshop was designed to generate the local communities’ inputs for the formulation of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Code. The workshop was attended by local government representatives, members of fishers’ organizations, fishery experts, fish brokers and fishpond operators. Learning Area Coordinator (LAC) Melchor Maceda said feedback on the Code was generally positive. "There’s a general consensus that the Code has managed to balance the interests of the different stakeholders, according to specific conditions in each area," he noted. The provision regulating the use of the 10.1-15km municipal waters area by small commercial fishers was deemed reasonable, since "it is the municipal government that will decide on the matter."

One issue raised during the workshop was the authority to declare certain species "endangered," an authority which now rests with the office of the Environment and Natural Resources Secretary. "Workshop participants said local governments should be given the same authority in their respective areas," said LAC Maceda. "Such authority will allow the protection of certain species that, while still abundant in some areas, have become scarce in certain communities."

In another development, CRMP-Davao del Sur welcomed last April 6 ten students from the Southern Philippines Agribusiness, Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (SPAMAST) to a summer internship program in coastal resource management. The interns will assist the Learning Area staff in implementing IEC and community organizing activities. On June 18-23, they will also assist a University of the Philippines in the Visayas team headed by Dr. Rex Baleña to assess the impact on water quality and benthic life of the proliferation of fish cages in Malalag Bay (Maceda said there are as many as 300 fish cages covering 100 hectares in the Bay). CRMP asked for the assistance of the UPV in developing a computer model to help LGUs plan fish culture projects so as not to exceed the carrying capacity of the water body. Intensive cultivation of fish in cages can have environmentally damaging effects from decreasing oxygen content of the water, sedimentation and reduced light, which in turn can kill fry and corals. Maceda said up to 200 bags of feeds are dumped into Malalag Bay’s fish cage area every day, resulting in high water turbidity. "Some fish stocks have already been affected by gill rot disease," he added.

Training in ICM
Twenty-eight participants (mostly municipal planning and development coordinators, municipal agricultural officers, fishery technicians, and agricultural technicians) from the towns of Sta. Maria, Don Marcelino, Padada, Digos, Malalag, Sulop and Hagonoy in the Malalag area joined representatives of the province of Davao del Sur and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in a 10-day Integrated Coastal Management Training Course held last April 20-30 at the Villa Victoria Beach Resort in Davao City. Present at the opening ceremony were Department of Agriculture (DA)-Region 11 Fisheries Section Chief Fatima Chaneco and former Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Regional Director Oscar Francisco.

This course follows a regional training held in Cebu (1996) and the Palawan Learning Area (January 1998). CRMP’s ICM Training Program is designed to provide decision-makers in the coastal zone planning process the necessary background and technical skills required for strategic planning and decision-making. "Participants say they hope to apply the skills they have learned from this training program not only in coastal resource management, but also in other work areas," said LAC Maceda

An important output of the Program are draft management plans prepared by participants and reviewed and evaluated by technical representatives from the regional offices of the DENR and DA and local government officials. With reports from Tom Bayer, CRMP Training Coordinator, 04.21.98 §