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.

Pushing the Blue Vote
Learning Area Coordinator Camilo Cimagala met last March 19 with provincial officials to discuss plans for a political forum on environmental issues. The forum will have a Q&A format, with members of the audience throwing questions at the invited guests -- candidates for local elective posts. According to Cimagala, the audience will most likely include representatives from the NGO sector and other concerned groups. "I think the youth should also be represented, so I am pushing for their participation," said Cimagala.

In another development, a resolution establishing a fish sanctuary off Taongon, a village under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Dimiao, has been approved by the municipal council. The fish sanctuary covers 11.5 hectares (not including the buffer zone which extends seaward to 50 meters).

Meanwhile, Getafe joins other municipalities that successfully completed their training in participatory coastal resource assessment (PCRA). The training workshops were held in the third week of February.

Mangrove Management Component On Track
(and Soon To Be On Air)
Pilot areas for Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM) under CRMP’s Mangrove Management Component (MMC) have been identified in Inabanga, Getafe, Candijay and Mabini. "We intend to hire a community organizer to oversee each pilot area and have requested the mayors in these towns to nominate candidates for the job," Cimagala said. "The four successful candidates will undergo a one-week training program on coastal resource and mangrove management, after which they will be deployed to the mangrove CBFM sites where they will start organizing the communities and help these communities qualify and apply for CBFM agreements.

The MMC has also begun developing materials for a "school on the air," a national radio show aimed at providing distance learning on a variety of subjects. Air time for a 16- to 19-episode series of broadcasts has been obtained for mangrove management, and background materials and scripts are now being prepared and will continue to be developed through the second quarter. MMC staff expect the show to be taped in June or July. §