Firming up a learning culture in fisherfolk communities

Sunny Saturday mornings find the young kids of Barangay Mambuquaio, Batan, Aklan inside their barangay hall, busy with their crayons and pencils. They go through their artwork for the day, and in a few minutes, submit it to Linda Bolivar, the volunteer parateacher-custodian of the Mambuquaio Barangay Learning Resource Center (BLRC) in Iloilo.

Their artwork done, they huddle for a short update on the latest news concerning their fish sanctuary and the other activities of the most visible development project in their barangay, the Fisheries Resource Management Project.

Mainly because of the BLRC, the kids are aware of the situation in their barangay and coastal waters. "Nawawala na po ang mga isda sa dagat kasi maraming trawl (We are losing our fish because of the trawls)," said Marie Trinidad.

The BLRC also corrects a typical Filipino family situation, that breadwinners hardly discuss with their kids their work and livelihood problems, depriving their kids of opportunities to fully appreciate the nuances of their socioeconomic existence.

The Mambuquaio BLRC’s Saturday afternoon sessions are reserved for the older kids. On very special occasions, the community adults join the kids, and altogether, kids, adolescents, adults and senior citizens join their community leaders to discuss the motley issues that concern this fishing community on the shores of Sapian Bay, one of the most threatened bodies of waters in the Philippines.

Here, in a relatively small bay, stationary fish cages and fish pens that deter the natural flushing action of the bay’s river systems have caused unabated siltation and shallowing of the bay. The coastal waters are only a few meters from the surface at their deepest. Silt deposited on the coastal waters destroys fish habitats and compromise the survival of the fisherfolk.

With declining fish catch, the fisherfolk were forced to engage in illegal fishing activities, such as the use of dynamites, cyanide, fine mesh nets and trawls. They do not just overfish the area. Even non-target species and juvenile fish are hauled in.

Yet, the Resource and Social Assessment (RSA) conducted by the University of the Philippines Visayas Foundation Inc. indicates that while the bay is alarmingly heavily-silted, the resources of Sapian Bay are relatively diverse, and the bay still has a relatively high fish biomass, even if the fishers have exploited the standing stock in the bay by approximately four times the proper level.

When the RSA studies were conducted in 2000-2001, fishers were already harvesting juvenile, immature and lower value fishes, while higher-value, carnivorous fishes feeding on the lower-value fishes were generally absent.

Fisheries and coastal resource management issues are among the variegated issues discussed in the different activities co-sponsored by the Mambuquaio BLRC, a special project initiated by the Fisheries Resource Management Project and its partners in the Batan municipal government and the Mambuquaio barangay council.

The Mambuquaio fisherfolk have set up a model fish sanctuary and its own community-based Fisheries Law Enforcement Team (FLET) and are readying to deploy artificial reefs intended to deter trawl fishers. They are also operating a cooperative, and actively networking with various sectors to generate support for their activities.

According to Erwin Pador, Information, Education and Communication Coordinator of BFAR-FRMP Reg. VI, the need to set up an information hub where people in the locality can have access to information, especially in the promotion of coastal and marine resources, prompted the BLRC’s establishment. The BLRC functions like a community library, but it is also a venue for consultations and meetings between resource persons and members of the community. Activities for the different sectors of the community can be conducted to sustain community interest and participation in the areas that concerns the BLRC.

"From the very start, we saw the BLRC as self-sustaining, and have designed it to be so. The community members have been advised they have to manage themselves," said Pador, who added that on the day of Mambuquaio BLRC’s launching, FRMP also turned it over to the community, lock, stock and barrel.

Four other BLRCs have since sprung up in Region VI: one in nearby Napti; and three others in Balaring and Cabugao, in Ivisan, Capiz; and in Lonoy, Sapian. A sixth BLRC is soon expected to be established in Camanci, also in Batan, Aklan. Other fisherfolk-dominated barangays have indicated their intent to set up their own.

It is not far-fetched to assume that in time, BFAR-FRMP Reg. VI will see a network of fisherfolk community-based learning centers.