Written by: Sarah Leonhardt
All included quotes have been translated from Filipino.
When Shirly Ronabio apprehended a group of dynamite fishers off the coast of the Philippines, they didn’t understand at first that they were being arrested.
“They didn’t expect that I would apprehend them [because I am a woman],” she shares, laughing as she recalls the incident.
Ronabio is a fisherwoman and the Business Manager of the Maliwaliw Multipurpose Association, a community organization that manages the Binabasalan Marine Protected Area in the Municipality of Salcedo, Eastern Samar, Philippines. She is also the secretary of the municipality’s Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (MFARMC). Stopping the dynamite fishers, Ronabio shares, is one of her proudest moments working to change the future of Salcedo’s oceans. “I was the one who dove to get evidence so that they wouldn’t do it again.”
Ensuring that coastal fishing laws are enforced is one of many strides the Salcedo municipality has taken to protect the vital marine life in its waters. The Binabasalan Marine Protected Area of Salcedo has even been shortlisted for this year’s Para El Mar award, a national event that recognizes outstanding Marine Protected Area management in the Philippines.
“We depend a lot on the ocean. That’s where our livelihood is,”
Ronabio says. “It’s important to protect marine resources for us, but also for the next generation.”
Dependence on marine resources is not unique to Salcedo alone. In the Philippines’ greater Leyte Gulf, where Shirly lives, an estimated 800,000 people rely on the coast for essential protein. A registered 10,981 small-scale fishers provide the majority of that protein, creating a blue economy intertwined with residents’ food, health, livelihoods, and income — all under one critical threat.
Coastal overfishing and destructive practices have disrupted Leyte Gulf’s marine ecosystem for decades. Current fishing harvest rates in the Philippines are estimated to be 30% higher than the maximum sustainable yield, and 75% of the country’s coral reefs have been degraded. Coastal damage like this has unsettling implications for the planet. The oceanic islands of the Philippines host a whopping two-thirds of the earth’s biodiversity, house at least 700 threatened species, and make up an important part of the Coral Triangle where 76% of the world’s coral reefs are concentrated.
The urgent need to protect these endangered reefs and species must be balanced with Leyte Gulf’s reliance on fishing — and it’s exactly what Conservation International’s project, Strengthening and Sustaining the Coastal Resource and Fisheries Management in the Leyte Gulf, has been working towards.
Funded by the Global Environment Facility, and executed on the ground by partner Rare, the project has been working on a gulf-wide awareness campaign to reduce human degradation on reefs and coastlines. Starting from the ground up, the initiative has increased community buy-in, helping to educate more people about the implications of destructive fishing practices and the importance of preserving marine life.
Community feedback is a key part of the project’s strategy. Twenty-five community consultations were conducted, gathering “feedback on proposed zonation, regulations, and eligibility, fostering ownership and shared responsibility,” says Aki Marcelino, Conservation International’s Senior Manager for Monitoring and Evaluation. “They also promoted inclusive participation — ensuring all groups, including women and marginalized individuals, had a voice.”
Design workshops for each involved Leyte Gulf municipality reviewed coastal zoning maps and allowed groups to vote on management options — best (managing 95% of target species), better (managing 75%), and good (managing 50%).
“Most groups chose at least the ‘good’ option, which for them meant a good balance between conservation and livelihood,” Marcelino says.
In addition to Salcedo, two other Leyte Gulf municipalities have been nominated for the Para El Mar award for their marine protection work: Quinapondan and Guiuan.
“Everything revived when Rare and this GEF-funded project arrived,”
says Rhanil Padel, AT Fisheries and Organization President in Giporlos. Padel shares that before the project, efforts to protect marine areas were never sustained, and a lack of funding undermined their efforts. Even if Giporlos had patrol boats to monitor illegal fishing activities, they didn’t have the needed resources or enforcement team to use them. Now, protection efforts are greatly strengthened.
In Quinapondan, the project’s emphasis on community buy-in has been essential for success. “[Community members’] awareness has increased. And their enforcement has been strengthened because of the trainings,” says Engr. Felix John Bianes, Quinapondan’s Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Officer.
Allan Abolencia, Quinapondan’s Chairperson of the Sta. Margarita Fishers Association, shares that he believes that awareness and enforcement efforts towards conservation are important because they inform the community about where fishing activities should be limited and where marine products are changing. “[It helps us] prepare the next steps in planning — what needs to be done for products that are already endangered and will definitely disappear from the marine ecosystem.”
Motivated municipalities like these are already seeing promising results in their waters. Marcelino shares that several year three targets have already been achieved in year two, a momentum resulting in many late stage co-finance partners jumping on board with the project.
Ronabio’s colleague Nelly Cabus, who is a staff member of Salcedo’s Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), adds:
“Even if I’m behind the scenes, just knowing that I’m doing something for conservation efforts… I feel proud.”
The project is a promising example of the power of collective action — action that can ripple out beyond the waters of the Philippines, securing the future of an entire planet.
Credits:
Conservation International