Bowmouth
Contributor
I do not have a lot of experience with diving in the Philippines (been there on dive trips only 3 times) but I noticed that there seems to be an extremely confusing and complicated way of collecting "Marine Park" fees. Also, rates imposed on divers vary greatly between different dive-sites, sometimes even when diving at the same island different rates are charged for different parts of the reef. At many sites it's not obvious what actually is being done with the fees other than marking off the site with a few buoys and rope.
In Dauin (Negros Island), divers must buy dive tickets before their dives and have to give a ticket before each and every dive to a ticket-collector on shore who "supervises" that particular dive site. Divers carrying a still camera, VDO camera or no camera will be charged different rates for their tickets. Then for doing night dives there's yet another (higher) rate to be paid and at some sites one is not allowed to night diving at all. If you would by mistake dive at night at a site that is not open for night diving or end up in a no-night diving zone, then you can get in big trouble and armed (!) guards may harass you and demand a ridiculous penalty for diving that site. Some day dive sites are so close to one another that divers may stray unknowingly from one dive site into another while diving and this may cause aggravation by the people on shore who collect the tickets and fees because many sites do have different "supervisors" who seem to compete with one another. Dauin has some great "critter" diving but the diving fees are very steep and the rules and regulations about how to pay, where to pay, when you can dive and where you can dive are a complete nightmare.
At Apo island there's a daily fee (different fees for camera's and vdo's again) charged per diver for diving most of the island's dive sites except for the site named "Sanctuary". Fees have to be paid in an office on shore. "Sanctuary" has to be pre-booked and divers must pay a higher fee to be able to dive here. The weird thing is that "Sanctuary" isn't very special at all compared to the rest of the sites around Apo and neither seems to have any special protection status. It's just an extension of "Rock Point East" with some nice hard corals in the shallows and a bit of a wall and steep slope. Locals at Apo Island are allowed to fish with lines and fish traps and can be seen all around the island in their little boats all day long. It shows because their are not many big fish around....
At Balicasag divers get charged a reasonable fee and a collector comes to the boat to get the fees. At Cabilao only at some sites divers get charged a minimum fee and at other sites one can dive for free. The diving at Cabilao is MUCH better and marinel ife much more varied than at Apo Island.
At Limasawa and Southern Leyte little stretches of reef have been designated as "Marine Park" or "Marine Sanctuary" and every little stretch has its own rules and regulations on when you can dive it, how much one must pay and by who one must pay. At some sites it's called a "donation" rather than diving fee and then its basically up to the diver to decide how much to give to the reef "supervisor". Then at some sites there are rules that you can only dive on certain days of the week and at others not at all. If you arrive on the "wrong" day then you can not dive that site! Some sites do not allow for night diving because the locals fear that divers steal their fish! When I heard that I really had to laugh but apparently its something they really believe...
At Tubbataha one must obtain a fairly expensive permit before one arrives that covers the whole atoll for diving. The price is worth it though because the diving is very good indeed. The sad thing is that most of Tubbataha's moorings are extremely close to the reef-top and a true hazard for boats to moor on when weather is bad and/or tide is low. When I was there this year a coastguard vessel hit the reef and was stuck on it for days on end! I don't think that ever made the news though even though it must have destroyed quite a bit of coral reef.
I can go on and on about the different "rules and regulations" that I witnessed in the Philippines and it must really be mind-boggling for local dive shop owners and live-aboard operators to stay up to date of all those different rules, regulations and fees. Personally as a diver I really would like to know what exactly is being done with the diving fees collected by places like Apo Island, Dauin and all the other popular dive spots when I dive there. One would hope that at least some of that money would be used to really preserve the reef and protect its inhabitants and not end up in the pockets of some scrupulous local "politicians". I think it would benefit the whole of the Philippine dive industry if they all (dive shop owners, live aboard operators, dive resort owners) could stick their heads together and set up some sort of club and press the ruling government to come up with no-nonsense rules,regulations and fees that are similar throughout the country. And of course suggest and supervise projects for truly protecting and maintaining the reefs funded by part of the fees collected from visiting divers like myself.
In Dauin (Negros Island), divers must buy dive tickets before their dives and have to give a ticket before each and every dive to a ticket-collector on shore who "supervises" that particular dive site. Divers carrying a still camera, VDO camera or no camera will be charged different rates for their tickets. Then for doing night dives there's yet another (higher) rate to be paid and at some sites one is not allowed to night diving at all. If you would by mistake dive at night at a site that is not open for night diving or end up in a no-night diving zone, then you can get in big trouble and armed (!) guards may harass you and demand a ridiculous penalty for diving that site. Some day dive sites are so close to one another that divers may stray unknowingly from one dive site into another while diving and this may cause aggravation by the people on shore who collect the tickets and fees because many sites do have different "supervisors" who seem to compete with one another. Dauin has some great "critter" diving but the diving fees are very steep and the rules and regulations about how to pay, where to pay, when you can dive and where you can dive are a complete nightmare.
At Apo island there's a daily fee (different fees for camera's and vdo's again) charged per diver for diving most of the island's dive sites except for the site named "Sanctuary". Fees have to be paid in an office on shore. "Sanctuary" has to be pre-booked and divers must pay a higher fee to be able to dive here. The weird thing is that "Sanctuary" isn't very special at all compared to the rest of the sites around Apo and neither seems to have any special protection status. It's just an extension of "Rock Point East" with some nice hard corals in the shallows and a bit of a wall and steep slope. Locals at Apo Island are allowed to fish with lines and fish traps and can be seen all around the island in their little boats all day long. It shows because their are not many big fish around....
At Balicasag divers get charged a reasonable fee and a collector comes to the boat to get the fees. At Cabilao only at some sites divers get charged a minimum fee and at other sites one can dive for free. The diving at Cabilao is MUCH better and marinel ife much more varied than at Apo Island.
At Limasawa and Southern Leyte little stretches of reef have been designated as "Marine Park" or "Marine Sanctuary" and every little stretch has its own rules and regulations on when you can dive it, how much one must pay and by who one must pay. At some sites it's called a "donation" rather than diving fee and then its basically up to the diver to decide how much to give to the reef "supervisor". Then at some sites there are rules that you can only dive on certain days of the week and at others not at all. If you arrive on the "wrong" day then you can not dive that site! Some sites do not allow for night diving because the locals fear that divers steal their fish! When I heard that I really had to laugh but apparently its something they really believe...
At Tubbataha one must obtain a fairly expensive permit before one arrives that covers the whole atoll for diving. The price is worth it though because the diving is very good indeed. The sad thing is that most of Tubbataha's moorings are extremely close to the reef-top and a true hazard for boats to moor on when weather is bad and/or tide is low. When I was there this year a coastguard vessel hit the reef and was stuck on it for days on end! I don't think that ever made the news though even though it must have destroyed quite a bit of coral reef.
I can go on and on about the different "rules and regulations" that I witnessed in the Philippines and it must really be mind-boggling for local dive shop owners and live-aboard operators to stay up to date of all those different rules, regulations and fees. Personally as a diver I really would like to know what exactly is being done with the diving fees collected by places like Apo Island, Dauin and all the other popular dive spots when I dive there. One would hope that at least some of that money would be used to really preserve the reef and protect its inhabitants and not end up in the pockets of some scrupulous local "politicians". I think it would benefit the whole of the Philippine dive industry if they all (dive shop owners, live aboard operators, dive resort owners) could stick their heads together and set up some sort of club and press the ruling government to come up with no-nonsense rules,regulations and fees that are similar throughout the country. And of course suggest and supervise projects for truly protecting and maintaining the reefs funded by part of the fees collected from visiting divers like myself.
