Apo marine sanctuary inspires Indonesia

WHAT was once a lonely pioneering

project by scientists to empower a

community off Apo Island in Negros

Oriental is now stirring a groundswell

of support in neighboring Indonesia.

The first internationally acclaimed example of coastal resources

management in Apo is being replicated in North Sulawesi, 800

kilometers south of Mindanao, by the Proyek Pesisir or Coastal

Resources Management Project-Indonesia.

The project is funded by the United States Assistance for

International Development and the Indonesian government.

''The Apo experience is

causing excitement

among fishing

communities in Indonesia,

particularly in Blongko, a

six-hectare reef,'' says Dr.

Brian Crawford of the

University of Rhode

Island Coastal Resources

Center, who serves as technical advisor to Proyek Pesisir.

Apo, a 73-hectare volcanic island-village of Dauin, Negros

Oriental, with a population of only about 600, is a perfect model

for marine conservation, especially to scientists of the Silliman

University Marine Laboratory.

The Silliman experts arrived on the island in 1985 and have since

converted even the most hardened blast fisherman into a marine

conservationist.

The residents are not only proud but zealously guard their

island's status as a marine sanctuary under Proclamation No.

430, which was signed by then President Fidel V. Ramos in 1994.

Fishing is off limits 500 meters from any point of the shore.

The Apo Island project and the Indonesian reef area of Blongko

are not just sister-barangays in name. In the past two years,

there have been reciprocal visits by leaders from the two

communities to explore how a community-driven marine

sanctuary is to be managed.

Encounter at sea

And if an exchange of views is not done officially, chance

encounters are also good avenues in promoting the concept of

coastal resources management, said Crawford, a former Peace

Corps volunteer to the Philippines.

He narrated a story about how a Blongko fisher met the

crewmen of a Philippine fishing boat in the Sulu-Celebes Sea,

which can be reached in three hours from his village.

One of the Filipino fishermen, a native of General Santos City,

knew how to speak in Bahasa and a conversation got going

about fishing, Crawford said.

The Blongko fisher mentioned the marine sanctuary concept in

Apo which was to be implemented in their own reef in

Indonesia. Aware of the Apo project, the Filipino encouraged

the Indonesian to support the marine sanctuary.

The encounter has inspired the Blongko fisher to become one of

the project's staunch supporters, Crawford said.

With the Philippine model well over 10 years ahead of the

Indonesian model, the Indonesians are trying to avoid coming

close to the problems that Apo Island is now facing.

Crawford has warned Johannes Tulungen, field program

manager for Prokek Pesisir for North Sulawesi: ''I hope you

survive the spate of visitors.''

Visiting limits

As news of the success of the Apo experience spreads, tourists

and researchers are coming in droves to Apo and nearby

Olango Island in Cebu.

The influx of visitors may be a welcome development for a small

community like Blongko, Crawford admitted.

In Apo, which is about the same size as the Indonesian reef

area, the Protected Area Management Board has recommended

to limit the number of visitors to 50 divers a day.

But Tulungen is looking farther at the promising project. ''One

small marine sanctuary in Blongko may not add up so much,'' he

said.

''But if this can be viewed as a model and replicated widely in

the 516 other coastal villages in North Sulawesi, it can be a

significant addition to the amount of reef area under protection

and will ultimately add up to a greater area than the national

marine park.''