A positive response to fish sanctuaries!

For our special guest on our talkshow on Straight from the Sky, we bring you another discussion on the Peace and Order situation in Central Visayas, this time under the command of Philippine National Police (PNP) regional director Eduardo Gador...a fellow Cebuano. One of the more dramatic happenings, which we couldn't tackle in this interview, was the arrest of the alleged gunman SPO1 Marcial Ocampo for the murder of my good friend, Jojo dela Victoria. Unfortunately, we taped this interview a day before the arrest... so we couldn't give details of this in our show. Watch our Police Chief Eduardo Gador tonight on SkyCable's channel 15 at 8:00 p.m.

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As we said last Friday, we're reprinting the letter sent to me by a good friend, Cordova councilor Gregorio R. Jumao-as chairman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources in response to our article about fish sanctuaries. Here's his letter in full:

Dear Bobit; As chair of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, I would like to express my deep appreciation for your writing about the need for more fish sanctuaries and highlighting our "bread and butter" Gilutongan Fish Sanctuary in your April 18, 2006, Shooting Straight column titled "Wanted: More Fish Sanctuaries!" In your last paragraph, you have indeed vividly unfolded your in-depth perspective about the bounteous potential of coastal municipalities and their significant contribution to the survival of the larger populace. Allow me to quote what you wrote for those who may have missed reading, this rich-in-fish paragraph:

"If only all our municipalities along the coast or shoreline of Cebu Province kept a one square kilometer fish sanctuary where fishing is prohibited, very soon, fish would flourish in that area and the poor fishermen can fish closer to the coastline. Best of all, these municipalities would have the added bonus of having a tourism site with those fish sanctuaries. All that one needs to do is go and look at all those tourists flocking around the Gilutongan Island. This is something we ought to do and then we can say that we really went out of our way to give a better future for our children."

Your article is very timely for those who are interested to learn more about fish sanctuaries and how to put up their own. This October 18-20, 2006, the 1st National Marine Protected Area (MPA) Summit will be held in Mactan Island, Cebu with the theme, "Building Local Marine Stewards."

The Municipality of Cordova Sangguniang Bayan has already authorized Cordova Mayor Arleigh Sitoy to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation as a Protocol Summit Convenor for the Visayas with Hon. Mayor Rowell M. Sandoval, Convenor for Luzon representing the fish sanctuary of the Municipality of Mabini, Batangas and Hon. Algerico H. Irizari, Convenor for Mindanao, representing the fish sanctuary of the Municipality of Lanuza, Surigao.

The Summit will have some of the following objectives: to assess the status of Marine Protected Area management in the Philippines. To share management practices and lessons learned in MPA management. To strengthen social MPA networks, recommend appropriate policies and strategies at the local, national and regional levels.

Interested LGUs, Academe, NGOs, Dive and Resort owners, International Organizations and Private Sector are encouraged to participate. Support from various line agencies come from the DENR, DILG, DAR-BFAR, DOT, DepEd, LMP, PNP, NGOs, Academe and existing MPA Social networks. For further details, contact the Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF), Inc. through Marites Alenton with tel. No. 233-6909. Bay Bobit, many thanks for taking the cudgels our friend Jojo dela Victoria died for. After all, we both know that the pen is mightier than the sword. Sincerely Bay Greg."

That was a long letter, which is taking our entire column. But this is how committed we are to this endeavor in helping restore our dwindling fish stocks, which I strongly believe can only be done if we replicated the Gilutongan Fish Sanctuary to the entire Cebu Coastline. Our late friend Jojo dela Victoria didn't have to die because he sounded the alarm bells to warn us of an impending economic disaster when there would be nothing left to fish in the Visayan Seas. All we need to do is do proper management of our fish stocks, through fish sanctuaries, that even the Tuna Fishing industry in Socsargen are already contemplating also limiting their catch.

I salute the officials of Cordova, led by our good friend Mayor Sitoy and Greg Jumao-as for their willingness to share to others how they set up the Gilutongan Fish Sanctuary and how to manage it properly. Again, let me point out that the bonus in having fish sanctuaries is having an instant tourism destination. Come now, anyone who wants to swim in the sea would surely get fascinated if they see an abundance of marine life surrounding them. That's just one among the many positive effects of fish sanctuaries.

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