Our local reefs.

[suzuki]

i agree , what can we do about it

IMHO..try to win the hearts of the locals....specially for the dive pros
start with a small contribution for public awareness by involving them.

Im talking about the poor kids around the area, the one who will be fishing your reefs in the future.

Why not organise a group of dive pros to give those underprivileged kids a dip on one of the house reefs (sponsored by resort of course).

Last time I was there in Batangas (Butong)....I spent 3 hrs teaching and taking local kids to snorkel for the 1st time in their lives ...they were so amazed to see whats in their backyard e.g clown fish ,parrot fish and lion fish few kicks away from the beach.

You should see the BIG smiles on their small faces after the experience:07:

I rather share the ocean with those kids than the spoil brats ,cool wanna be kids from Manila:10:

We need to start somewhere

 

[paolov]

we can organize a local chapter here and avail of a piece of area where we PPD SB would adopt as a project under the category of association.

Section 6. Qualified Applicants. - The following are qualified to apply for the Coastal Area Special Use Agreement:

5.1 A Filipino citizen of legal age;

5.2 An association, corporation, cooperative or partnership or juridical person, at least 60 percent (60%) of the capital of which by Filipino citizens, whether private or public, duly created and/or registered under the Philippine laws including non-government organizations

and have the project a collective effort of SB with PPD as point group

 

[pakman]

This is truly an outrage....we have to get the ploiticians to listen! Go to: http://news.inq7.net/nation/index.php?index=1&story_id=56445
Our reefs are among the best in the world....not for long if this keeps up!!!

Wow 95% of PI reefs damaged? hmm, bet 5% of the damage was caused by Green Peace II running aground recently...

 

[Hank49]

One of the things that could make a difference, is enforcement of existing laws, like no dynamite and cyanide fishing for starters.

I'm not a Pinoy...by blood anyway...but if I may add my experience there...The dynamite fishing is a major culprit. I've been to many spots where the walls were beautiful, until you dropped down and it looked like pictures of Hiroshima after the bomb. I sat at our hatchery in Punta Engano, Mactan and watched the plumes of water after a blast. This is within a mile of Cebu City !!!! It could have been enforced but obviously officers are told to turn a blind eye. I understand people need to eat and over population is a big problem there. But the recovery rate of dynamite on a deep wall, where the fish really are, is very low. Most drop to the bottom and are never recovered.
How to control it? I don't know. It's an entrenched "virus" which will be hard to cure. I've been to areas where retired military officers have a strangle hold on the practice. Who will challenge them in remote areas. The locals who benefit from it only see the short term and don't try to fight it. Who knows? if they do, they may end up fish food. Good luck my brothers. It's worth the fight. Hank

 

[Ishie]

I'm really enjoying the beauty of the reefs here, and it's a shame that some areas have been so devastated. We were amazed at the richness and beauty of the reefs at Apo, as well as some around Dauin, and it's a shame that isn't throughout everywhere.

When we did our dives out at Sumilon, we were discouraged and our guides were really ticked off that a boat of tourists came to the island, with help by their guides, began picking up urchins, and worse, hauling in huge pieces of coral, most of which were left on the sand for an hour or so, and then pitched back into the water. I hope there are ways to keep people from doing things like that. To think, while they're doing that, we're not even wearing gloves, and only touch dead areas with a finger to stabile ourselves. Our guide also showed us some areas where there had been blast fishing before moving to healthy reef, and it would be a shame to see such a beautiful resource depleted further. Hopefully with further awareness, there can be some end to the destruction of the reefs!

You have my support!

 

[paolov]

any details on the dive tour operator that brought them tourist in?

I'm really enjoying the beauty of the reefs here, and it's a shame that some areas have been so devastated. We were amazed at the richness and beauty of the reefs at Apo, as well as some around Dauin, and it's a shame that isn't throughout everywhere.

When we did our dives out at Sumilon, we were discouraged and our guides were really ticked off that a boat of tourists came to the island, with help by their guides, began picking up urchins, and worse, hauling in huge pieces of coral, most of which were left on the sand for an hour or so, and then pitched back into the water. I hope there are ways to keep people from doing things like that. To think, while they're doing that, we're not even wearing gloves, and only touch dead areas with a finger to stabile ourselves. Our guide also showed us some areas where there had been blast fishing before moving to healthy reef, and it would be a shame to see such a beautiful resource depleted further. Hopefully with further awareness, there can be some end to the destruction of the reefs!

You have my support!

 

[Babydamulag]

we can organize a local chapter here and avail of a piece of area where we PPD SB would adopt as a project under the category of association.

Section 6. Qualified Applicants. - The following are qualified to apply for the Coastal Area Special Use Agreement:

5.1 A Filipino citizen of legal age;

5.2 An association, corporation, cooperative or partnership or juridical person, at least 60 percent (60%) of the capital of which by Filipino citizens, whether private or public, duly created and/or registered under the Philippine laws including non-government organizations

and have the project a collective effort of SB with PPD as point group

I say go for it!!!! - Our place is as good as any to start. The "Coastal Area Special Use Agreement" can be incorporated with the coastal management plan at Mararison Island, Batbatan Island and Maninguin Island. Tell me what we need. I can start with our DENR when we get there on 17 DEC. I am ready to do what it takes!!

 

[iris_ice]

read on a document on http://www.pawb.gov.ph/ about Draft on Coastal Area Special Uses Agreement and see if we here at PPD can organize a group to have as our official project under ScubaBoard.

sorry, guys. we're actually against this specific draft DENR AO. it's masked to allow politician-businessmen to get their hands on hectares and hectares of coastal waters for their own use to the detriment of local fishermen. i think it's safe to post dr. lacanilao's open letter to denr. it's been sent to various local newspapers. we hope DENR will listen but as of 16 nov. the secretary was set to sign it since he was leaving for abroad. we don't know if it's been signed already...

what the hey, i'll post dr. primavera's letter as well...

 

[silent running]

Hello all, I just returned from Panglao a few weeks ago. While the corals were very healthy and I saw many critters, there were almost no big or even medium fish. I was amazed at the number of locals fishing on the dive sites, even more than I saw in Komodo. The best diving of my trip was at Pamilacan, which aparently nobody dives due to a US $5 fee. I saw a family of big Napolean Wrasse and the biggest Giant Trevally I've ever seen. And I've seen some big ones in PNG. So as far as I was concerned, the $5 was worth every penny. It worries me that other tourist divers are so cheap and this would even be an issue. The diving in PH is about as cheap as it gets in Asia. So why is 5$ such a big deal? If anybody is counting on the kind of tourist divers currently travelling to PH to help fund conservation, it could be difficult.
The Philippines does have a huge population and I fear that any attempts to control it will be futile. It didn't work in China and they have very authoritarian government. IMHO the best way to control population is by raising the standard of living. But even in the best of circumstances it takes a lot of time.
Obviously the best hope int the short term is to provide some kind of monetary incentive to the locals to fish only for what they need for daily protein. I'm guessing that a lot of the fishing that is done is for profit, either selling to markets or live fish aquarium traders. Is this true? Or are all the people I saw dragging nets across the shallow reef just trying to feed themselves? What kind of money would it take to get the locals in the coastal areas to stop comercial fishing practices? How much per person and how many are there? I'm scared to hear the answer...-Andy

 

[chewie]

IMHO..try to win the hearts of the locals....specially for the dive pros
start with a small contribution for public awareness by involving them.

Im talking about the poor kids around the area, the one who will be fishing your reefs in the future.

Why not organise a group of dive pros to give those underprivileged kids a dip on one of the house reefs (sponsored by resort of course).

Last time I was there in Batangas (Butong)....I spent 3 hrs teaching and taking local kids to snorkel for the 1st time in their lives ...they were so amazed to see whats in their backyard e.g clown fish ,parrot fish and lion fish few kicks away from the beach.

You should see the BIG smiles on their small faces after the experience:07:

I rather share the ocean with those kids than the spoil brats ,cool wanna be kids from Manila:10:

We need to start somewhere

aba suzu, ang dito ka rin pala! hehehe peace!

continuing with the topic, it's a good thing that people are starting to realize that conserving the environment is of utmost importance. but, if not properly managed, it would be a total waste of time, money & effort. the recent increase of the "conservation fees" a.k.a the daily dive passes is a good indication, but the real test of the LGU is showing results from what they have collected over the years. sometimes thinking about shelling the extra 200 feels like a burden. there should be clear guidelines as well as where to dive or not to dive.

i remember years ago when i was starting diving, the group (we were 6) was starting a dive when suddenly we heard a loud explosion & felt a shock wave! we all surfaced thinking that one of our tanks or regs exploded only to find out that there was dynamite fishing all the way from the other side of the island. things like this must be properly handled as not to spoil the fun in diving.