TALIBON, Bohol – Mayor Janette A. Garcia of this town revealed that tropical fish known for aquarium adornment can be found at Bohol Danajon Double Barrier Reefs (BDDBR) said to be the only sixth in the world and the only documented in the country and in the SouthEast Asia.
She told the launching of BDDBR here on August 30, 2023 that she was told there were interested persons who were catching tropical fish and sold this to collectors but were caught. She immediately ordered the caught fish back to their habitat.
The sea cow, or known as “Dugong” make DDBR their habitat. Proof of this is that there were instances that local fisherfolk in the islands caught sea cow. One time, perpetrators hunted a young sea cow but were caught by authorities and was ordered to bury the dead “dugong,” according to the account of the Bohol Environment Management Office.
The mayor said that there’s a need to protect BDDBR for sustainability and proper use of the resources here.
Mayor Garcia, along with municipal mayors Fernando Estavilla (Pres. Carlos P. Garcia), Eugene Ibarra (Clarin), Atty. Dave D. Duallo (Buenavista), Rene Borenaga (Bien-Unido), the governor represented by Nunila Pinat, Assistant Regional Charlie Fabre of the DENR, CCEF CGA Commodore Holger Horn, LT Wenceslao John Wenceslao of CGSC Western Bohol, CG Lt. Edzel Gonzaga of Eastern Bohol and other stakeholders participated in the Sail-by ceremony on board BRP Cape San Agustin of the Philippine Coast Guard.
The launching is an offshoot of the recent forming of Bohol Danajon Double Barrier Reef Management Council with signing of the Memorandum of Agreement among the stakeholders, including government agencies, like the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Bureau of Aquatic Resources (BFAR), BEMO and fisherfolk.
Duallo, who is the incumbent president of the League of Mayor of the Philippines-Bohol chapter urged the stakeholders to work together for the protection and conservation of the reefs.
The protection efforts for BDDBR is also assisted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) thru Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation (CCEF)’s Protect Danajon Bank project grant.
“USAID signifies rationalizing and enhancing existing governance structures and processes and implementing a policy framework for managing the entire Danajon Seascape, spanning several municipalities in Bohol, Cebu, Southern Leyte, and Leyte.”
CONSERVATION EFFORT
The provincial government of Bohol, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and local government units (LGUs) concerned last year have signified their desire to collaborate in furtherance of protecting and conserving the DDBR), off the northern part of Bohol island.
The move is an attempt to revive the provincial DDBR Management Council which has been in hiatus for few years since the signing of the same document in the inter-provincial level of management, known as CeLeBoSoLe sometime in 2013. The MOA signing was prompted by the fact that destructive fishing methods, the marine productivity decline, habitat damage and weak law enforcement still prevail.
It will be recalled that Congresswoman Vanessa C. Aumentado (2nd district) filed House Bill 6935, “An Act declaring the Bien Unido double barrier reef and its immediate underwater environs in the Municipality of Bien Unido, Province of Bohol, a tourism destination.”
The said bill was passed in the third and final reading at the House of Representatives on February 22, 2023.
It will be recalled also that International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP), an affiliate of the National Geographic (NatGeo), took underwater photos of the species and even the life of fishermen at the DDBR.
PROTECTED AREA
It will be recalled that then Congressman Erico Aumentado filed House Bill 5145 seeking to put the Danajon Double Barrier Reef (DDBR) a protected area under the category of a natural park.
It was not known if this was approved by congress, however.
Aumentado said that Danajon Bank as the only double barrier reef in the Philippines and one of the only six documented double barrier reefs in the world.
The former governor warned that unless the reef is protected the situation could further deteriorate “until this status became endangered by illegal fishing, poaching of corals, rapid population growth and other destructive activities in the area.”
“It is imperative that the DDBR be declared a protected area under the category of a natural park pursuant to Republic Act 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act, to protect and preserve it, considering its enormous revenue generating potential for ecotourism and biodiversity of marine resources vital to the fishing industry and food security,” Aumentado said.
The proposed law would ban the following: (1) possession or use of blasting caps, explosives or cyanides within the DDBR or its buffer zone; (2) fishing, hunting, collecting, catching, capturing, wounding, killing, destroying, transporting or possessing and any disturbance of protected species of corals, plants and animals; (3) disposal or dumping of non-biodegradable, toxic, hazardous materials and other prohibited substances; (4) fishing using spear and submerged underwater breathing apparatus, trawling equipment or any other equipment prohibited by the Fisheries Code of 1998; and (5) alteration, removal, destruction of boundary marks or signs and coral reefs.
DDBR
“It is a unique geological formation which has been carved for over 6,000 years of coral development, hence, it is a larger and better-defined structure than other known double barrier reefs in the world,” the former congressman said.
With a total shoreline of 691 kilometers, the DDBR consists of the Caubyan Outer Reef and the Calituban Inner Reef. Caubyan of Cebu spans towards Southern Leyte, while Calituban Reef of Bohol stretches up to Maasin City.
It is one of the only six in the world and the only documented in the country and in the SouthEast Asia with 272-km long, 699 kms of coastline and has 27,200 hectares. DDBR represents over one percent of the total coral reef in the country.
The Danajon is also known in some islands nearby as “Dawahon.” It was not known how the Danajon was derived.
The reef is the home of the third largest seaweed producing province in the country and the largest man-made mangrove plantation in Asia. (rvo)
