WWF: ANILAO - ACTION NEEDED

A few weeks ago, a couple of incidents got my juices and blood pressure going the wrong way. Both incidents

occurred behind Sombrero Island. We were about to dive when we spotted three small bancas engaged in cyanide

fishing. As we approached one of the boats, a larger one arrived and we observed that one of the men was armed.

We watched helplessly while the smaller boats off-loaded their catch already in water-filled plastic bags.

Two weeks later, I was in the middle of my dive when I saw a diver armed with a spear gun. He was on surface

supplied air - with the hose looped once around his neck and the end of it firmly grasped between his teeth. On his

stringer were a juvenile trigger fish and a number of even smaller reef fish. With clumsy hand signals I tried to

inform him that he was in an area where spear fishing was prohibited. I gave him the signal to surface and he began

a slow unconvincing ascent. As I was about to turn around, I saw him cock his spear gun. I swam back and firmly

grabbed him on the arm and insisted that he stop and surface. It was then that I saw his companion approach, also

armed with a spear gun. A disturbing thought flashed through my mind just then - it would have been easy for them

to spear this meddler instead no one would have been the wiser. One more peril of the underwater photographer

who insists on diving alone.

At any rate, my bravado got the better of me so I persisted with my hand signals. They again moved halfheartedly

towards the surface. By their moves I could tell they wanted to ignore me. So I surfaced, following their hoses to

their tenders. A bit more eloquently but still excitedly, I told their tenders that spear fishing was prohibited and that

they should leave the area. I watched as the men tugged a signal then slowly pulled their divers toward the boat.

After watching the divers board the banca, I continued my dive feeling quite proud of myself (not to mention

relieved that I wasn't used for target practice).

The positive feelings were short-lived. Upon surfacing, I discovered that they had simply moved to another spot on

the reef.

Also very recently, divers found and abandoned net virtually blocking the cave entrance in Mapating. They found

four leopard sharks and a marble ray. The animals had drowned after being entangled in the net. It is unnatural for

fish to drown. Only man can make this happen.

It is very natural for divers to feel so righteous and indignant on occasions such as the ones I just described.

Indeed, our ability to experience the beauty of the ocean and its creatures make us to wish to preserve and

protect them. What many of us fail to realize is that these creatures also feed a hungry population. Reflecting on

the incidents I witnessed, what disturbed me most was that the spear fishers had to resort to hunting reef fish

because the good eating and more substantial pelagics were simply not available.

The problem is a complex one according to Mr. Ed Tongson, Program Officer for the Anilao initiatives of WWF

Philippines. He related the story of three notorious dynamite fishermen who were recently arrested. They were

caught with several family-size Coke bottles filled with dynamite. Many fishers, divers, and residents welcomed

news of their arrest.

A happy ending? Not quite. Every day since their husbands' arrest, the wives of the detained fishers pleaded with

the mayor to release their husbands because they and their children were suffering from hunger without the men's

support.

The issue of poverty and destructive fishing cannot be addressed by enforcement alone. Simply adding education

to the formula is also too pat, almost trite. Those engaged in destructive fishing practices don't know better. Do

they know that dynamite and cyanide fishing destroy the reef? Perhaps. What they don't know is a better way.

As Mr. Tongson said, "Scuba divers in Anilao fail to understand this and can moralize poorer fishers on the evils of

dynamite fishing. Here, conflicts not only on resource use but in world views arise. If a fish is an object of beauty

for the diver, it is the next meal for the fisher."

It is up to us. Members of the diving community have a real stake here. If we don't do anything, all the beauty we

experience underwater will be destroyed. If nothing is done, the sea will become so polluted and so barren that we

will be better off diving in our bath tubs.

In a previous article I described the rapid deterioration of the marine environment in Anilao. Despite serious and

sincere efforts on the part of local governments and the support of organizations such as WWF, this deterioration

still continues. Let us think of Anilao as one large living organism. Over the decades we have blasted it, heaped all

kinds of garbage and pollutants upon it, and poisoned it. If Anilao were a patient, its condition would be critical.

Anilao needs to be stabilized, we need to give it relief from all the abuse it has suffered. The diving community has

the power to do something. We are customers of the major industry and source of income in the area. If we

stopped going to Anilao because it lost its attraction as a diving destination, the resort owners and the local

population would suffer economically. Before this day arrives let us call attention to the gravity of the problem.

First, we should talk to the resort owners and get them to adopt the necessary measures to practice proper wa

ste and garbage disposal. (Just last weekend, employees of one resort were seen dumping resort garbage in the

middle of Balayan Bay, late at night.)

We also need to explain to the local population that we need their help. They could adopt a form of neighborhood

watch where they can report illegal fishing practices (without fear of reprisal) to the local government.

We should be willing to put our money where our mouth is. On a good weekend there must be close to 200 divers in

Anilao. Voluntary and sustained contributions (say 50 pesos for every diver who visits Anilao) would go a long way

in helping ongoing projects for local governments and WWF.

Contact your dive shop, instructor, or dive master to find out how you can help. Perhaps some of them could act

as collection points (funds could be channelled through WWF). We should encourage them to co-ordinate with the

local government and WWF so that news and information could be exchanged with the diving community in an

orderly and effective manner.