The coastal town of Dauin in Negros Oriental is the pioneer of successful Community-based Coastal Resource Management (CRM) in the Philippines. The town officials practiced CRM at the time when it was not yet popular in the country. This is a remarkable historical fact, despite the establishment of Apo Island as the second no-take marine reserve in the country after the setting up of Sumilon no-take marine reserve off Oslob town, Cebu province in the mid-1970s, where CRM activities were first conducted.
The success of Apo Marine Reserve as part of CRM can be attributed to the quality of governance of the municipality of Dauin. As far as I can gather, the idea of coastal and marine resource management was kept mainly outside of political considerations from the time of Mayor Jeffrey T. Araula in 1980 to 1992. Four other succeeding Mayors, namely, Rudy Enriquez, Felecisimo Delena, Rodrigo Alanano, and Neil Credo and their vice mayors and municipal councils, from 1992 to 2015, respected the principle that marine conservation should be promoted for public good and kept out of politics. One of them, Mayor Alanano, even extended the concept of marine protection to the coastal barangays of Dauin by the establishment of several small no-take marine reserves covered by municipal ordinances. I think these Dauin mayors were conscious of the role of marine resources as essential to the life of the people of Dauin and therefore should be spared from petty politics.
I would like to commend all the Dauin mayors for their progressive outlook that made their municipality the model for CRM in the Philippines and for their cooperation with the Silliman Marine Laboratory and SUAKCREM in terms of our research programs that are being conducted in their municipal waters. I thank them for giving us at Silliman the opportunity to demonstrate that taking good care of our marine environment makes very good sense.
Because of the partnership between Silliman University and the municipality of Dauin, many of our students, Filipinos and other nationalities, have acquired their scientific education through the conduct of marine biology research in the municipal waters of Dauin. A number of our trained research workers have also served as CRM lecturers in other Asian countries such as Indonesia.
It is now clear that CRM in Dauin municipality (including especially the establishment of no-take marine reserves) has resulted not only in the improvement of marine biodiversity and the economic status of the people of Dauin (marine reserves in Dauin earn 7-8 million pesos annually from tourism alone) but also in the improvement of the scientific education of Silliman students.
It is hoped that other coastal communities with coastal resources such as coral reefs and mangroves will learn from the Dauin experience. I am looking forward to the development of similar relationships between academic programs like the Silliman University marine programs and other local government units not only in Negros Oriental but also in other areas of the country.
_______________________________
Author’s email: [email protected]
