Monday, March 10, 2008 Councilors to hear fisherfolk's woes in hearing
A PUBLIC hearing will be held today on the proposal to declare the 300-hectare stretch of water between Caubian islet, Lapu-Lapu City and Jetafe, Bohol a marine sanctuary.
Though the meeting can be handled solely by the chairman of the environment committee and officials of the City Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (CFARMC), majority of the city councilors have agreed to join so they could hear for themselves the sentiment of the city’s registered 9,050 fishermen.
“Paminawon nato ang ilang tingog (Let’s hear them). But this project can produce more benefits than the feared decrease in catch by fishermen,” committee chairman Alexander Gestopa said. The hearing will be at the Caubian islet, which is a 45-minute boat trip from the mainland.
Dynamite fishing
CFARMC wants to protect what is left of the city’s vast coral reef against dynamite fishing and illegal extraction by declaring the area as the Minantaw Marine Park and Sanctuary.
The area has been the fishing ground for many fishermen, including those from other localities.
The size of Lapu-Lapu’s coral reef in the 1990s was 841 hectares. But the illegal fishing and men’s indifference to the environment destroyed 75 per cent of it.
The latest underwater survey in 2006 warned of the city’s coral reef becoming extinct because the remaining 201.84 hectares will be lost if the city officials continue to do nothing about the matter.
Ordinance
A several meters buffer zone against fishing would enclose the 300-hectare water if the ordinance is approved.
CFARMC chairman Pepe Berido said the proposed marine park and sanctuary is at the center of the double-layered reef stretching from the waters of the provinces of Cebu, Bohol and Leyte, a geographic set up very rare in Southeast Asia.
He said the city will be the first locality in Central Visayas to establish a marine park and sanctuary if the project is realized.
Out of the 9,050 registered fishermen, 1,895 are members of a cooperative or other collective organizations, making it difficult for the city and the police to monitor the activities of the majority of them. (AIV)
