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The Realities and Challenges of the Coastal Resources Management Initiatives in Lanuza Bay

The attempt to address the cause of the marginalized coastal communities by the municipalities abutting the peripheral boundaries of Lanuza Bay from the havocs of illegal fishing activities can already be accounted with tremendous diversity of approaches, technologies and funds sourced out from the various international donor agencies, national and local government units and from the partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

However, ecosystems and coastal communities remain in crisis on account of the seemingly unstoppable encroachment of commercial fishers in the bay, poverty-driven over exploitations of the coastal resources, destructive fishing methods, pollution, erosion and other land-based “development”.

"From man's morning rituals until one retires in the evening, the Earth's fragile web of life always hinges on the proper care of the environment, let's help protect it!

The harvest of fish stocks is often subject to a competitive scramble in an 'open access system' and the 'absence of a clear picture of the tenurial systems' - a question of who really owns or manages the sea? The uncertainty of rights of access or tenure of coastal resources has often left the poor fishing communities with little choice except to take what they can, when they can!

Local governments continue to pursue the efforts as "service providers", not as "enabler"; the perception to treat the poor communities as "beneficiaries", not as critical "partners"; and to use them merely as "enforcers", not as "resource managers".

To quote Dr. Jan Michael Vakily (Project Team Leader of the Visayan SEA Project under the GTZ): "Solving the problem of illegal fishing is not dole-outs, neither you stop it by policy, it is not simply possible!... Although policy is important, we believe, however, that the only way to do it is by 'empowering the people to consider marine resources as not the government's but their too. By being its owners and feeling of sense of ownership of these resources, they become more committed in defending it against illegal fishers".

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