If You See Something, Say Something

My biggest project at work since the completion of the CRM Plan last August has been establishment of a marine protected area (MPA) in the municipal waters shared by two of our Barangays, Tando & Lucmayan. In my October blog entry, I write at length about our joint fisherfolk assembly, which formally kicked off our initiative to establish a 10 hectare no fishing zone in this area. Since the join fisherfolk assembly, we have been hard at work. The Tan-Luc MPA Management Committee, which we established the month before the fisherfolk assembly, has been meeting every month since August and coming up with the necessary stages for the project. With the help of the Committee, shortly after the fisherfolk assembly, we drafted a Management Plan for the MPA as well as a resolution asking the Sangguniang Bayan (the SB - the local legislative council) to enact a municipal ordinance formalizing the MPA.

Other activities for the MPA have been IEC (information, education, and communication) events in all 6 high schools and the 2 elementary schools that students from Tando and Lucmayan attend. The IEC events have varied slightly in each school, but in general, my counterpart and I go to the second year high school class, which is the year they study biology, and talk about MPAs. We discuss the importance of MPAs, highlighting that there are MPAs in their municipality and what they can do to help. During the sessions, we also announce our poster design competition. The winning drawing will be used in our billboards, which we plan on installing around both barangays to inform the community about the Tan-Luc MPA. The theme for the competition is: “Kon may nakita ka, maghambal ka. Ako, ikaw kita tanan makaprotektahan ang aton kadagatan” (roughly translating to: If you see something, say something. Together we can protect our coastal areas). We wanted a motto that inspired action, and our IEC events, we discuss who kids can tell if they see or know about illegal activities going on in the shoreline, such as fishing within the MPA or using illegal methods of fishing like using dynamite or cyanide, two common practices in Nueva Valencia and around the Philippines. The Committee came up with the words, but the first sentence, as you may notice, was inspired by the NYC anti-terrorism slogan that covers the subways.

Along with the IEC events, we have been constructed jackstone artificial reefs. These will be placed at the four corners of the MPA, so we can tie buoys to them that will demarcate the area. The jackstones will serve additional functions, such as an artificial reef where corals can grow (since coral need a hard, stable calcium foundation to grow) and will also stop the illegal intrusion of commercial fishing vessels (by tearing up nets that try to fish in the area). Outside the MPA, we will place extra jackstones, which will attract fish from within the MPA and provide additional catch for fisherfolk.

Our first IEC event at Holy Rosary Academy

In case you can't see, the slogan in the back of the classroom reads, "The Filipino is worth dying for" -  (current) President Ninoy Aquino

Playing "Tsunamis, Corals and Communities" with the kids from Magamay National High School.

Kids in Filipino classrooms are known to be shy , so it's even worse with a strange American in the front of the room. That's why we gave out candies as an incentive to participate. 

Riro at Lucmayan Elementary School 

These kids, unlike the high schoolers, were very rowdy. It was a challenge just keeping them in their seats

Corals beat Tsunamis. Now only if the kids knew that... 

Letting the students of Nueva Valencia National High School make drawings related to the MPA theme

A day at the races, Filipino style. Only two of the boats needed to be tugged back to shore. 

Later that day at the Tando Barangay Fiesta. I took out the drawing supplies, and people gathered quickly.

Making drawings for our MPA poster design competition.

The evening program of the Barangay fiesta included a beauty pageant, lots of speeches, and an amateur fire dancer  performance.

The winning poster design. Notice the MPA within the eye. Now that's deep

Joebert and Dindol assessing the materials

Our team of fisherfolk getting started on the jackstones

Our first frame complete

Marking the jackstones

First 5 jackstones ready

For the MPA to succeed, it needs the support of the community so that they can be the ones to manage the project. In addition, support from the LGU (local government unit) is also vital, particularly in the form of a municipal ordinance. The ordinance is what makes the rule of the MPA enforceable. Therefore, when I received a text message from my counterpart on my way back from a trip to Manila that the SB didn’t want to deliberate the MPA since they hadn’t been invited to the meeting, I knew we were at a possibly serious roadblock. We had, in fact, invited the SB members to our meetings, and we had the proof. Nonetheless we needed their support. 

Thankfully we had another meeting scheduled for the week I returned, and one of the SBs came to the meeting, so I gave a special presentation about the work that the Committee had done thus far. The SB member participated actively in the meeting and promised to have the ordinance drafted.

          

Monday mornings are when regular SB sessions occur. When I went last Monday's SB meeting to watchRosalie from the Zoological Society of London give her year-end report, I was surprised to see my supervisor, Sir Obing, present at the meeting. I got there just in time for them to discuss the MPA. I had just finished helping Nong Rey drafting the ordinance minutes before, so I was expecting the MPA to be deliberated next week. So was Sir Obing.

          

I arrived right in time, because although Sir Obing did a great job introducing the project and explaining how the MPA fit into framework of the municipality's CRM Plan, which the SB had already passed a few months earlier, he wasn’t able to answer the detailed questions about the project. Therefore, the questions fell to me. I hadn't prepared anything for the meeting, and this my first opportunity to speak to the whole SB. But I knew the project well enough to answer all their questions without any problem. That's not to say my heart wasn’t pounding through my chest, as I knew that my ability to convey the importance and legitimacy of the project was our only chance of moving the project forward. Thankfully SB sessions are held in English, or there is no way I would have survived.

          

The SB members were asking really pointed questions about the project. They raised several good points, and I was happy to see that they were really thinking about this MPA and its implications on the community. One SB member asked, “Do you really think the barangays are able to manage this whole project on their own,” and another asked “How can you expect us to tell these already poor fisherfolk to give up some of their precious fishing ground?” To the first question, I said absolutely, that it was their leadership and enthusiasm that has gotten us this far. The leadership in these barangays was one of the main reasons why this was the project I wanted to direct my attention. Plus, we’re going to spend the next year making sure their able to keep the MPA running. To the second question, I explained how this 10-hectare area is actually only a very small part of the fishing grounds and that the fisherfolk in these barangays have expressed their support and willingness to go along with the project. I was very happy with how the meeting was going, especially because of the support I was getting from not only Sir Obing but also some of the SB members, such as the chairman of the Committee on Fisheries and Agriculture and Chairman of the Environmental Committee. Going back to that first question, after I gave my answer, one of the SBs said that this community-based approach is in fact the best way of ensuring the success of MPAs because this is the way to build local support and “social acceptability” (her words). In regards to the second question, one of the SBs mentioned that we had a petition of 75 fisherfolk stating their support for the project, and he also said, “We must face reality.” He told the group that the fish catch has been declining for a long time, and unless we designate certain areas to protect, we will continue to fact this decline.

  

The SBs were satisfied with our answers. I happened to have my USB flash drive in my pocket, and on it were some presentations that were very helpful to continue our discussion. I was able to show them a map of the area (so they could see how big the area was in comparison to the rest of the fishing ground) as well as the results from our biophysical assessment of the area. In the end, the SB agreed to schedule a public hearing on the ordinance, the final step before approval. I also received a lot of really kind recognition at the end. One SB said that my work on the project was “extraordinary,” and they were all asking if I could extend. For those of you reading from home, don’t fret. I responded, as I always do, “Indi pwede!” (meaning no way).