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Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Fish population growing in Alcoy
By Giovannie A. Nilles
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
IN a town where human population growth almost hits zero, the fish population has grown from nothing to what now includes sharks, swordfish and carabao fish.
This was noted after Alcoy in the south of Cebu established the Daanglungsod-Guiwan marine sanctuary, a protected area set in a 22-hectare reef three kilometers south of the town proper.
Councilor Richard Gonzales said the area is strictly off limits to fishers and even swimmers and snorkellers day and night. Thirty-six fish wardens take turns making sure no one gets near the year-old sanctuary.
The prohibition, Gonzales said, will be effective in the next two years to allow the fish to multiply.
Apo Island
Alcoy is a fifth-class municipality 93 kilometers south of Cebu City.
Its town and barangay officials also visited the Apo Island marine sanctuary in Negros Oriental to learn from its experience.
“We actually thought of growing bakhaw (mangrove) to increase our fish population. But this just didn’t work out in our shores. We’ve already done that three times and we failed each time. So, we thought instead of establishing a sanctuary to address the problems of our fisherfolk,” Gonzales related.
He lamented, though, that apart from this, not much of the town has grown.
Its share of the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) barely grew by about P100,000 over a two-year period. This is mainly because of the zero growth in population, which he attributed to a successful family planning drive.
Gymnasium
“Our priests even complained of having no one to baptize because of the almost nil human population growth,” Romanos joked.
With only P3 million set aside each year for development, only a few projects can be seen in the town.
Recently, the Municipal Government invested in a gymnasium that can hold four basketball courts, and a small plaza.
The dangerous kilometer-long stretch to Barangay Nug-as, Alcoy’s vegetable basin and the town’s counterpart to the one in Mantalongon, Dalaguete, was also paved last year.
Gonzales said that saved for a few foreigners who married Alcoyanons and chose to reside in the town, investments are rather a dream.
Dolomite
Even the Philippine Mining Services Corp., which mines dolomite from Alcoy’s hills, did not fare well in stirring the grassroots economy. The councilor pointed out that the firm employs only about 100 workers.
“Not all their workers are from Alcoy. So you really can’t see much influx of people nor the budding of small sari-sari and other stores near it,” he added.
Prospects for business are so dim that Budget Officer Jose delos Santos said they even put off renovating Alcoy’s dilapidated public market. The Municipal Government simply cannot afford the debt-servicing scheme offered by the Land Bank of the Philippines.
On the brighter side, though, delos Santos said people’s lives are actually improving, as government projects are focused on cash crops and tree farming and increasing fish population.
The sanctuary, set up on Nov. 15, 2002, was partly funded by the Coastal Conservation Education Fund. It is clearly visible from the national road because of the white and red buoys that mark the boundaries. It has achieved first level certification for coastal resource management from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Swordfish
Daanglungsod Captain Carolina Romanos related that the reef where the sanctuary now stands had zero fish population when it was surveyed in November 2002.
“Six months after we established the sanctuary, we saw carabao fish (mulmol) and swordfish populating the area. A small shark was also seen. Our role in the barangay is to make sure that no one disturbs it,” she said.
“Since a sanctuary is where the fishes come to rest and multiply, we have to be sure that no one, not even the snorkellers can get near it,” Romanos added.
But while the project is welcome news for the needy fisherfolk, Gonzales said the place still has two years before it can be opened for controlled fishing.
Controlled fishing, he explained, is a hook-and-line affair. Nets are not allowed.
The University of the Philippines, after making a study last year, will introduce giant clams in the sanctuary next month.
(January 14, 2004 issue)
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