One source of pride of the town of Dauin is its rich marine biodiversity and dive sites, particularly within its 10 marine protected areas (MPAs). The best and also the oldest, is the three-decade old MPA off Apo Island, known as the first successful community-based MPA in the Philippines; now delegated to the Protected Area Management Board, a nationally mandated multi-sectoral group with representations from within and outside the island. Silliman University has also played a role in Apo Island’s marine conservation history.
How the town takes pride of Apo Island is expressed in the lyrics of its Municipal Hymn, made official by Municipal Ordinance No. 03-01, titled Dauin Kong Pinangga (My Beloved Dauin) written by former mayor and now provincial board member Rodrigo Alanano and former Negros Oriental State University president Dr. Henry Sojor. The third stanza particularly says: Sa imong matin-awng kadagatan/Mga tanggapa ug do-ot sa kaisda-an/Garbo atong Apo Island/Gidayeg ka sa tibo-ok kalibutan (In your serene and lucid sea/Corals and schools of fish abound/To make us proud of Apo Island/Appreciated all over the world).
During the Kinaiyahan Festival of the town on September 7, the incumbent mayor Neil Credo in his opening speech enjoined all Dauinanons to thank God for the natural bounty they enjoy, and to continue supporting the local government’s program of preserving and protecting its coastal and marine resources, not only for food security but also for their tourism value. The Kinaiyahan Festival was institutionalized by Municipal Council Resolution No. 03-081 in 2003–a significant event that annually reminds the Dauinanons of their environmental responsibility.
But Apo Island is no longer just a local tourism commodity. Together with the lessons in marine conservation the island has produced and now replicated in other parts of the Philippines, its beauty has been exported abroad either through television programs, videos, photographs posted in Facebook and websites and on-line journals or by print media like in tourist guidebooks and magazines, scientific journals and textbooks and so on. The scientific community, tourism agencies, tourists, government offices and other interest groups had certainly been responsible for the growing popularity of Apo Island.
Meanwhile, no one may ever think that part of Apo Island village and its coral reefs can already be seen in Chicago, Illinois, USA. But it is true–a feel of Apo Island can be experienced in Chicago Shedd Aquarium (http://www.sheddaquarium.org). Along with other exhibits of diverse marine and freshwater species from other parts of America and the world, the Shedd Aquarium offers a view of the reproduction of Apo Island coral reefs together with the fishing paraphernalia of the local residents since 2003. Having seen the Apo Island exhibits among other places in such a venue one feels really proud as a Filipino, much more if one is from Dauin and Negros Oriental.
When I was in the US in May this year, I made a quick trip to Chicago and visited the Shedd Aquarium. Elsie Sy-Niebar, past president of the Silliman alumni association and a journalist based in Chicago, graciously linked me to its management. I particularly met Jim Robinett, Charles Knapp, and George Parsons who fascinatingly explained that making known to many the remarkable efforts of Apo Island community in protecting its resources as reasons behind the concept of putting up the exhibit.
For authenticity, the village shed copied from what is seen in Apo Island which is part of the exhibit–made of bamboo, nipa shingles and coconut lumber–was constructed at Silliman University by local carpenters. These were transported by modules to Chicago and reconstructed in the Shedd Aquarium. The indigenous fishing gears brought from Apo Island such as the bamboo fish traps, banca, and nets are not only static displays but they also tell the importance of the seas for food to the island residents.
Parts also of the display are samples of printed messages reproduced from what are actually posted in public places on the island. These messages convey the rules and policies that fishers as well as tourists have to observe in order to protect and sustain the island’s marine biodiversity. The overall picture being portrayed was how the local community had been transformed from exploiters to protectors of their own resources.
There are also some photographs of island residents being displayed which are intended to showcase the broader involvement of the community in marine conservation. The photographs include the young and the old, both men and women, and I know them personally because I had interviewed some of them in 1997 and 2004 when I had fieldworks in the island.
Generally, the exhibits in the Shedd Aquarium is one medium among those I mentioned earlier that have helped in exporting Apo Island abroad, and in promoting it as a must to visit place in the Philippines. How effective these media are can be measured by asking the sources of information about Apo Island of tourists and scientists who come–something that the agency monitoring tourist arrival in the island can include in the information being asked if not yet done.
