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By APD writer Melo M. Acuna
LIGAO CITY, March 29(APD) – Strict implementation of fishery laws brought unexpected benefits to local fishermen in the three coastal villages of Cabarian, Tambac and Catburawan within the east side of Burias Pass.
Congressman Fernando G. Gonzales said the Bantay Dagat operatives have been organized and halted illegal fishing activities which include the dreadful use of dynamite, fine mesh net and chemicals.
Congressman Fernando V. Gonzales said strict enforcement of fishery laws will bring benefits to small and subsistence fishermen.
He added community involvement also plays an important role in the observance of relevant environental laws.
They have observed the fish sanctuaries core and buffer zones where very limited human activities are allowed.
In buffer zones, only passive fishing gears are allowed.
Officially known as fish wardens, these fishermen/volunteers patrol the seas and talk to illegal fishers not to operate in the identified fish sanctuaries.
At times, they are backed-up by elements from the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).
Three-term Catburawan Barangay Captain Melquiades Bellen, now 58 years old said his village earned some P 500,000 over the past two weeks when local fish species known as tanguige (Spanish mackerel) filled their fishing nets at an average of a hundred meters from the shore.
Village chief Melquiades Bellen said fishermen in his village received a bounty of some P 500,000 from a ton to a ton and a half of Spanish mackerel caught some 100 meters from the shore of Catburawan in Ligao City.
He added their fish catch reached anywhere from a ton to a ton and a half for the past two weeks.
Both Congressman Gonzales and Bellen describe the events as “phenomenal” because never have they seen this variety of fish trooping to the same spot everday for the past 15 days.
“For the past two weeks, our community caught almost 150 heads of fish with an average weight of seven to eight kilos each,” he explained.
Bellen said there were days when 150 heads of fish were divided among local fishermen and eventually sold at from P 250-300.00 per kilo.
Asked as to what probably brought them regular and bountiful catch, Bellen said it is due to the strict observance of fishery laws.
There were also days when the local fishing community had an enormous catch of anchovies and fish species known locally as tulingan (skipjack).
As far as Jaime Marbella, now 49 years old and fish warden at neighboring Tambac village, he said his 11-man crew and a couple more guarding the mangroves, have been successful in enforcing fishery laws due to the support of local government officials and their respective communities.
Congressman Gonzales said it is not viable to establish an ice plant and later provide cold storage facilities because fishing in Albay’s west coast is seasonal.
“An ice plant cannot survive on the fish catch alone as there needs to be other industries that would require ice,” the third-term lawmaker said.
During the western monsoon season when fishing is almost impossible, village chief Bellen said fishermen either find employment as rice farmers or construction workers while the rest may rely on money transfers from their wives working as domestic helpers in Metro Manila.
City Environment and Natural Resources Officer (CENRO) Maria Soledad Preña said they have been successful in establishing fish sanctuaries from 2008 and have been effective in dileneating bundaries.
“Fishermen are not allowed less than 50 meters from the sanctuaries,” Preña said.
She added most fishermen families are beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer and National Household Targetting Program, both under the Department of Social Welfare and Development because most of them are poor.
They have also planted and maintained some 40 hectares planted to mangrove to further protect their villages from storm surges and maintain their ecosystem.
She added Congressman Gonzales played an important role in the development of their mangrove areas.
Flashback to some three decades ago, these villages were “hotbed” of the insurgency movement where fierce gunbattles between New People’s Army guerillas and government troops took place.
Today, village residents said they have gone over the violent past as they continue to benefit from the undepletable resources of the sea and the rich agricultural lands planted to rice and other cash crops.
Well-maintained concrete roads have criss-crossed villages from Ligao
City, Pio Duran, Oas and Libon town.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
