A.C. Alcala
Apo Island Marine Reserve is now 27 years old, having been established through a written agreement between Dauin Municipality and Silliman University in 1982. In reality it began as a community-based no-take marine reserve protected by most of the local community members of the Barangay of Apo Island as early as 1980, but later acquired a stronger legal framework through a municipal ordinance approved by the Dauin Municipal Council, Dauin, Negros Oriental province in 1986. In that year, the marine reserve can be considered local government-managed. Note that this ordinance predated the Local Government Code of 1991, showing that Dauin was ahead of the times in marine conservation.
But beginning in 1986, the reserve has been actually co-managed by the local government and the local community, with the Apo community providing a very effective protection effort.
In 1994, Apo Marine Reserve was proclaimed by Philippine President F. V. Ramos as a “Protected Landscape and Seascape” under the 1992 National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act. Under this law, Apo Marine Marine Reserve came under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, with the Protected Areas Management Board (PAMB) as the implementer of the rules and regulations of the Apo Marine Reserve. However, elements of local management are part of the management practices of the PAMB.
By the way, some people, including a Silliman sociologist and two CRM “experts” from a British university and the present mayor of Dauin municipality, have criticized this shift from local government governance to national governance by the PAMB arguing that the Presidential proclamation under the NIPAS was a mistake for various reasons. The mayor’s main reason is the requirement to remit user fees to the national government, denying immediate use by the local community of Apo. This is no longer true after a couple of years of advocacy led by us to change this regulation. A new set of regulations, DAO No. 2008-26, provides that the 75% share of the local community should now go to them directly and should be deposited in the local banks.
The criticism of the British “experts” that the PAMB has not done its job is subject to debate. Their conclusion that Apo Marine Reserve is no longer the number one community-managed no-take marine reserve in the world has little, if any, scientific basis. These critics have not pinpointed the world’s number one no-take, community-based marine reserve that replaced Apo. The reason is simple, there is none.
Before the establishment of the Apo Marine Reserve in 1982, the Island of Apo was part of the study area of scientists at the Silliman Marine Laboratory headed by myself. In the late 1960s and the whole decade of the 1970s, the land vertebrates and the marine biodiversity of Apo Island were studied by us.
In the late 1970s, we conducted a program on conservation biology among the residents of the island using information on fish, fisheries and coral reefs gathered from Sumilon Island off southern Cebu, where we had earlier, in 1974, established the first no-take marine reserve in the country. We conducted lectures illustrated by color slides, one-on-one meetings with the Apo community, and community assemblies on biological conservation, emphasizing the important roles of marine reserves in improving biodiversity, enhancing fisheries yield through spillover, and other uses benefiting coastal communities such as tourism, as well as destructive effects of blast fishing and muro-ami fishing on coral reefs. These activities were preliminary requirements to formal community organizing that was conducted by our social workers in the early 1980s. Community organizing was the final activity that resulted in the empowerment of the people to manage their resources without depending on government action prior to the establishment of the Apo Marine Reserve. The Reserve is the central feature of the whole conservation program that distinguishes the Apo Marine Reserve from a number of marine protected areas in the world.
An estimated 500 residents inhabited the island during the 1970s and the 1980s. At those times, it was obvious that the main source of livelihood for the people was fishing. The marks of poverty and malnutrition were seen on the faces of both adults and children. Their dilapidated houses completed the picture showing their poor living conditions.
How is Apo Marine Reserve today? Apo Marine Reserve has served as a model of conservation where the local community and national and local agencies of government have participated. As such, it has influenced resource policy such as those in the Fishery Code of 1998. It has influenced local government units to establish marine protected areas now numbering some 563 in the Visayas and about 1000 throughout the country. It has been show-cased by a famous aquarium in Chicago, USA, the Shedd Aquarium. It is still the best community-managed (despite its national park status) no-take marine reserve that attracts people on vacation, scientists, students, foreign media people, and tourists. In 2008, 17,329 visitors, of which 60% came from other countries, enjoyed the clear waters, the coral reef and the white beaches of the island. These visitors spent 5.2 million pesos (ca 110, thousand US dollars) for user fees in 2008, excluding hotel accommodations and travel expenses. People have better houses now, and the island is clean and orderly. The island’s land and marine resources appear to have been maintained and are flourishing. Its coral reef produces at least 15 tons of fish annually, and there is evidence that part of this biomass comes from the reserve through spillover. Its coral reef has remained healthy despite climate change effects (warming) in 1997-1998. But most important of all, the people of Apo Island have higher incomes now and are happy and healthy and more than ever committed to protect and manage their resources for themselves and for posterity.
Having said all the good things about Apo, I am challenging all members of the Apo PAMB and the Protected Area Superintendent to do their respective duties well in protecting and managing the no-take reserve and the biodiversity in the coral reef and in Apo’s forest and in using Apo’s large income from tourism to maintain the island’s natural resources:
1. The island’s population has increased from 500 to more than 800. The island’s carrying capacity is probably almost exceeded by this number. Island ecosystems are fragile and careful attention should be focused on the human population, otherwise Apo will go the way of Boracay, which is on a downhill trend because of too many people and serious water pollution. An aggressive population management of the kind began by PATH Foundation should be continued.
2. Young people from Apo are now learning skills to allow them to get jobs outside of Apo, and they should be encouraged to take these jobs.
3. The island’s sewerage system should be checked to see to it that pollution of coral reefs and the shallow waters of Apo by wastewater from toilets is avoided.
4. The lagoon must become part of the protected area. All fishpond leases must be recalled or terminated. This is DENR’s job. After all, DENR gets 25% of all user fees collected from visitors. In addition the area of the present marine reserve should be enlarged to include the entire third of the southeastern side in order to increase the spillover effect of the reserve.
5. The amount of damage due to careless diving and snorkeling should be determined. It should not exceed one percent per year. Damage to corals results from divers standing on fragile coral colonies, so divers must be made to understand this fact.
6. The number of scuba divers allowed to dive in one day should be continually assessed. The number of fishers should also be assessed with a view to preventing fishers from other areas to fish off Apo Island.
7. Planting of more mangroves to replace those dying and to cover more beach areas should be done in order to shield the island from the rising sea level and from storm surges.
8. All houses and structures on the beaches near the upper tidal limits should be removed to prevent them from being washed away by storm surges.
9. The Bantay Dagat and those involved in assisting scuba divers must have a continuing education on coral reefs and fish and the effects of climate change on the marine environment. Authorities in marine biology and oceanography should be utilized as lecturers.
10. The Apo community through its Bantay Dagat must monitor at least once a year the status of the corals, invertebrates and fish of the island. Monitoring is part of the community’s responsibility in management, and the Protected Area Superintendent (PASu) and the PAMB should see to it that monitoring is implemented.
If the above suggestions are followed, I have no doubt that Apo Marine Reserve will continue to be number one among community-managed no-take marine reserves in the world.
Remember Money You cant eat! But you can make easy food for poor people!
