Fronting the Silliman Marine Laboratory in barangay Bantayan, Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental is a 330-meter-long sandy beach. I write about this beach because it was on the coral reef off this beach where we conducted our initial marine biology studies 30 to 40 years ago. It was also on this beach when we began to conceptualize the role of no-take marine reserves in resource conservation.
This has led to the establishment of Sumilon as the first working marine reserve in the country, an important event in the history of marine conservation in the country.
There are at least 1000 no-take marine reserves in the whole country at this time.
Since the decade of the 1970s, we have used this beach as starting point of our research trips on board small research vessels to such far-away areas as northern Mindanao and Palawan, including the Tubbataha reefs to survey coral reef systems and reef fishes.
A number of research expeditions were also launched from this beach, such as those of Smithsonian scientists in 1978-1979, to study and collect marine specimens on various islands in the Bohol and Sulu Seas.
And of course, the Silliman Marine Laboratory was built on this beach.
Now as of 2011, some 50 outrigger canoes owned by the fishing community of Bantayan are parked on this beach. Aside from the small fishing boats, large transport outriggers with gasoline or diesel engines that carry scuba divers to diving sites in the southern part of Negros Island are anchored off the beach.
This public beach is the center of activity of the coastal community of fishers living in Bantayan barangay.
Aside from fishers, several persons have appropriated to themselves some portions of the beach for their own purposes, including eating and sleeping, and possibly, drinking sessions.
No barangay official fully controls or regulates the use of this public beach, and littering is a frequent occurrence.
One or two members of Bantay Dagat have been observed to pick up trash such a plastic bags, plastic containers, wastepaper, etc. once in a while.
Some elderly people walk on this beach as part of their daily exercise. During calm weather, some even venture to swim.
Visitors from other places frequently visit the beach. One lady from Manila visiting the family of her husband who hails from Dumaguete one early morning asked me whom she can approach for a beach clean-up.
I recommended that she meet the Barangay Capitan in his office in the Barangay Hall of Bantayan. I do not know whether she followed my advice, but it was obvious she found the beach not a clean and pleasant place to relax.
But the main activity on the beach is related to fishing. One finds people mending their nets and repairing and maintaining their small boats for fishing.
Fishing takes place in the Bohol Strait, the sea enclosed by the southern tip of Cebu Island, Negros Island, and Siquijor Island, using hook and line, fish traps and gill nets.
Fishers go out to sea before dawn, except for those using small bamboo fish traps designed for catching siganids (locally called danggit) in shallow areas with coral and seagrass beds.
They land their catches on Bantayan Beach, where fish vendors wait for them.
During several mornings, I tried to find out how much fish these fishers land. They generally caught very few fish. I estimated a gill net would get about half a kilo to perhaps a kilo after three or four hours of fishing effort at sea, definitely insufficient to make both ends meet.
A fisher is lucky to get a couple of kilos of fish or squid after several hours of effort. I was told that once in a while, a large bamboo fish trap locally called bubo may catch several kilos of deep-sea snappers and groupers.
But such luck hardly compensates for a large amount of daily effort on the part of fishers.
But the fishers persist in order to survive. They have little or no choice.
The fishing community at Barangay Bantayan, Dumaguete is a replica of the situation in many coastal areas of the Philippines. The community is poor and their source of livelihood (fishing) is depleted.
It can be asked: What is the future of this community? And what is the response of our local government officials?
