Thursday, September 13, 2007 So: Minantao needs help By Michelle P. So Caught in the Net
TO THOSE of us whose orientation of Cebu marine life is limited to the seafood served in restaurants and carinderia, Minantao Reef sounds exotic. To marine conservationists, Minantao Reef needs help.
A shallow dive in Minantao Reef reveals an environment that is devoid of fish but replete with coral rubbles. Fishermen did this. Gunpowder did this. The corals look somber, like nosy neighbors waiting for a vigilante victim’s funeral. In the words of marine biologist Angelie Nellas, “it is very much exploited.”
Minantao Reef is part of the Danajon Bank, the only documented double barrier reef in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The reef is just three kilometers from one of Lapu-Lapu City’s densely populated islets.
The Cebu-based Project Seahorse Foundation has embarked on a conservation project in Minantao Reef and the rest of the Danajon Bank. The two-year P3-million project is under the auspices of Chevron Philippines Inc. Project Seahorse Foundation is a 2005 Chevron Conservation awardee.
Project Seahorse is now working on making the Minantao Reef and the Danajon Bank a marine protected area (MPA). It won’t be easy work given the economic situation of Caubian whose inhabitants subsist on the seas and the other sectors that have to be involved in the project. These sectors include the local governments and law enforcement agencies.
“MPAs are not stand-alone solutions,” Project Seahorse national director Amado Blanco says. The project has the support of the Lapu-Lapu City Government and Caubian Barangay Captain Romeo Matbagon.
But the barangay captain will be swimming against the current in getting his constituents, who have been used to illegal fishing methods, to back him up. The success of any conservation method rests with the community. To Matbagon, however, hope floats.
Chevron Philippines, which markets petroleum products under the Caltex brand, has much at stake in the project. Its third largest finished-products import terminal in the country is located in Lapu-Lapu City. The two others are in Batangas and Pandacan.
Randy Johnson, country chairman of Chevron Philippines, describes his dives first in Minantao Reef and then in Talima as “impactful.” He saw for himself the state of the reefs.
Talima is a marine protected area and there’s good coral cover. The same can’t be said of Minantao.
The Danajon Bank extends to the waters of Talibon, Buenavista and Jetafe in Bohol and Lapu-Lapu City. What ammonium nitrate didn’t kill, bureaucracy might. But Project Seahorse’s Blanco is optimistic that the conservation project will succeed. He has until 2009 to make it work. Project Seahorse isn’t a Chevron Conservation Awardee for nothing.
Coral reef conservation is big among divers. Coral reefs, with their kaleidoscopic colors and shapes, are fascinating. That’s why there are rules to be observed in close encounters with corals because a slight contact can either harm them or harm the diver.
One such rule is to keep a comfortable distance from the reef. Since comfort is relative, you’ll just have to check with the dive master what comfortable distance is. Another rule is to stay off the bottom and never stand or rest on corals. A fin can get entangled or bad finning can stir up the sediment or accidentally touch the reef.
One more thing: Don’t buy souvenirs made from coral because often this is illegal and not environmentally wise.
