The establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Philippines has progressed steadily since the 1970s when the first working MPA was established at Sumilon Island off southern Cebu.
The Marine Protected Areas Support Network now holds 1,785 records of MPAs in the Philippine MPA Database.
This indicates an increasing awareness of the importance of protecting and preserving marine biodiversity and fisheries in our shallow coastal areas.
The Marine Science Institute and many individuals and agencies should be credited for this accomplishment.
The need to maintain the integrity of these MPAs is of prime importance. This requires commitment of local governments and local communities to continue protecting these MPAs from poaching, pollution, physical disturbance, etc. to achieve good results as measured in terms of abundance, diversity, and biomass of marine species. (In fact, I think the majority of MPAs have been set up to increase fish abundance and biomass.)
This commitment to manage and protect MPAs should be inter-generational, involving adults, young people, and children.
The younger generations in communities should be trained to take over the responsibility from their elders, as the maintenance of MPAs requires decades, not a few years, of protection.
It is, therefore, important that community organizing by social scientists and social workers is conducted in communities maintaining MPAs.
Another requirement is linkage with natural scientists, usually practicing marine biologists who are trained in the monitoring of biodiversity of MPAs.
These experts should be able to advise the community in such matters as land reclamation near MPAs that alter current systems, negative effects of exceeding carrying capacity of MPAs, etc.
The latter is necessary when the MPAs and adjacent areas are used for tourism activities.
The MPAs should function primarily for the conservation of biodiversity and fisheries, and only secondarily for earning incomes from diving and snorkelling.
One important expectation from MPAs is that they will accumulate fish biomass that would result in the spillover of adult fish to areas outside of MPAs that are used for fishing.
If the biomass of fish in the MPA is small, there would be no spillover, and fishers would not benefit from MPAs.
Our results on the survey of MPAs in the Visayas in 2007 showed that only about 30 percent of the MPAs had biomass that could result in spillover.
Managers of MPAs should see to it that MPAs of reasonable sizes have large fish biomass and good coral cover.
Most of the 1,785 MPAs mentioned above should have at least 50 to 100 tons of fish per square-kilometer in order to increase the fish biomass in areas adjacent to the MPAs. This way, fishers can benefit from MPAs.
My advice to MPA managers and Protected Areas Management Boards is to fully protect their MPAs so that in a decade of time, they will help in ensuring the supply of fish in our shallow coastal areas.
This especially important because the fish biomass in many coastal areas of the country is very low, and the fish yield of hook & line fishermen fishing in areas without MPAs is only half a kilo per hour of fishing.
Contrast this fish yield with that of a hook & line fisherman some 60-70 years ago, which is several kilos per fisherman per hour based on my personal experience.
The task of marine conservationists for the year 2016 is to establish more of the fully-protected MPAs in coastal areas with coral reefs, as well as in deeper seas where the effects of typhoons are probably lesser than those in shallow areas.
This will help ensure the increase of fish abundance and biomass in our coastal areas.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
