OVER SEAS -- The Online Magazine for Sustainable Seas

Northwest Bohol

The CRMP learning area covers five municipalities in northwestern Bohol: Buenavista, Inabanga, Clarin, Tubigon and Calape, a total area of 35,446 hectares stretching to 75.2 km of coastline with a population of 140,820 persons (1995). CRMP also assists five municipalities, Loon, Panglao, Dimiao, Candijay and Getafe, in its expansion site. Signs of over-exploitation and environmental degradation are all over the place, brought about by illegal fishing activities (particularly the use of modified Danish seine (locally known as hulbot-hulbot), baby trawl, sodium cyanide and dynamite) , illegal fishpond construction, and the the extraction of coral and white sand quarrying. Local government units have initiated efforts -- mangrove reforestation (Banacan Island in Getafe has the largest man-made mangrove in Asia) and the declaration of closed seasons for blue crabs and rabbitfish (siganids), for example -- to arrest the decline of fisheries. CRMP hopes to harness these local initiatives to jump-start a wider and more integrated implementation of coastal resource management.

Photo by Toni Parras, CRMP

PCRA Moves Ahead
Calape became the fourth town, after Inabanga, Tubigon and Getafe, to complete its participatory coastal resource assessment (PCRA) training. This brings the total of trainees in the CRMP learning area to 149, 30% of whom were women. The participants represented 33 barangays.

Meanwhile, CRMP’s enterprise development team headed by Tom Easterling, together with CRMP Community Organizing and Community Development Advisor Evelyn Deguit and Learning Area Coordinator Camilo "Mel" Cimagala, met with the Northwest Bohol Technical Working Group to explore possible enterprise development activities in suitable sites within the learning area. Evelyn Deguit for CRMP, 04.22.98

Mangrove Team Gears Up for CBFM
Four fishery graduates from the Candijay School of Fisheries participated last April 13-19 in a seven-day course on basic community organizing in preparation for their deployment to Inabanga, Getafe, Candijay and Mabini, the pilot sites for CRMP’s Community-Based Forest Management Project (CBFMP). The training focused on the community organizing process, and included role-playing sessions where the participants simulated and acted out situations where certain community organizing concepts and skills applied. Specialized technical input on mangrove identification was also incorporated in the training program, and included a visit to the mangrove areas of Inabanga and Clarin. During the field visit, participants had the chance to interact with some mangrove planters as well as observe these home-grown coastal resource managers in action.

The preparation of implementation plans, by the trainees (and soon-to-be CBFMP organizers) themselves, capped the week-long training. Charito Chiu, 04.22.98 §