First of all, thanks to Meg for posting my blog updates until my return from the Philippines. As I mentioned previously, overfishing is a huge concern for the protection of marine ecosystems as well as the future economies of local communities. Fishing provides an important source of protein in communities all over the country, and with a rapidly growing population it has become more common over the past few decades for families to migrate to the last remaining regions with healthy fish stocks. The result is that there are no regions left in this country of over 7,000 islands where fish stocks aren’t being exploited.
Fishing gear at the mooring site for a small village in Bogtong, Busuanga.
A typical ‘baklad’, or fish corral. This gear, designed to attract and trap fish, is particularly notorious for unintentionally entangling the endangered dugong (Dugong dugon) as ‘bycatch’.
Even in the relatively isolated region of northern Palawan where we worked it was evident that over the last 40-50 years fishermen have had to work increasingly harder and longer to catch fewer, smaller fish than they used to; classic signs overfishing. Although the most destructive fishing methods (i.e. the use of dynamite and cyanide) have been made illegal they are still used by a small portion of fishermen, and other activities such as trawling, seine netting and ‘muro-ami’ (the smashing of coral with rocks to scare out fish or collect invertebrates) continue to destroy critical fish habitats. One of the aims of our conservation work was therefore to go to this isolated region while there are still some intact habitats and fish stocks to protect, and educate local communities about overfishing and how proper management of fish stocks can protect their future livelihoods. How did we do this? The answer is coming soon in my next post about community education and awareness-raising; stay tuned!
A fisherman holds up a giant cuttlefish collected in that morning’s catch.
Freshly caught crabs served at a typical Filipino meal. Crustaceans and invertebrates are commonly collected by fishing activities; there are no limits to the age or sex of animals collected.