Fish ban on in Samar Sea

TACLOBAN CITY — The four-month ban on commercial fishing in the waters of nine coastal towns in Samar, along with serious maritime police efforts, is seen as the ultimate solution to the degradation of marine resources in the region.

The Samar Sea Alliance, a group of maritime stakeholders, earlier lobbied for a stop to the commercial fishing in the towns’ waters in a bid to increase the catch of small-scale fishermen.

The proposal earned the support of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the fish ban has been implemented beginning April 1.

“We need to enforce the total ban not next year but now because of the depleting resources of Samar Sea and we have to act on this for our future generation,” said Calbayog City Mayor Ronaldo Aquino, chairperson of Samar Sea Alliance.

He said that based on their monitoring, about 50 species were fished in the sea in the 1980s but this number has been trimmed down to 10 to observe fishery laws.

The alliance, he added, has forged an agreement to secure the interest of Samar sea for the constituents and to give importance to the fisherfolks whose livelihood are dependent on the treasures of such body water.

The Calbayog City local government donated last month two motorboats to the maritime police station.

The City Council also passed an ordinance seeking to regulate the harvest or catch and sale of juvenile fish speciies known as galunggong.

The city government allocated at least P2 million for the purchase of up to 80 motorized pump boats to enforce the ordinance. That is on top of the distribution of fish nets to identified dynamite fishers who signified earlier their support to the program.

Samar Sea is situated between Bicol and Eastern Visayas. It is bordered by the islands of Samar to the east, Leyte to the south, Masbate to the west, and Luzon to the north. It covers the coastal waters of Almagro, Tagapul-an, Sto. Niño, Gandara, Sta. Margarita, Tarangnan, Daram, Pagsangjan and Zumarraga in Samar province.

According to a 1993 study conducted by Jurgen Saeger, a German fisheries development specialist, the Samar Sea had been experiencing a significant degradation of marine resources.

The expert found that the deforestation of surrounding lands has led to increased silt from denuded mountains that choke coral reefs. Only some five percent of reefs are considered to be in a healthy condition.

Another result of the increased silt is the red tide bloom, which first occurred in Samar Sea in 1983.

Since then, the phenomenon has continued to occur in Samar Sea at irregular interval.