Fisheries council forms group to save Danajon Reef system

BFAR 7 Regional Dir. Bojos delivers his welcome message during the joint meeting on the Integration of Federated IFARMC. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

THE Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management councils (MFARMC) of Region 7 and 8 elected their representatives to the Regional Development Council to strengthen the management of the Danajon Bank.

Elected chairman of the Integrated Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (IFARMC) was Samson Elibeto from Pres. Carlos P. Garcia in Bohol while Pancho Damicog from Baybay, Leyte was elected as co-chairman.

The Danajon Bank or Double Barrier Reef is the only double barrier reef  in the Philippines and one of only three sites in the Indo Pacific Region. It is spread across almost 130 kilometers and consists of three large reefs.  The Danajon Bank is 272 square kilometer and makes up over 1 percent of the total area of coral reef in the country.

Municipalities with jurisdiction over the Danajon Bank includes Bien Unido, Buenavista, Clarin, Inabanga, Getafe, Pres. Carlos P. Garcia, Talibon, Trinidad, Tubigon, and Ubay in Bohol; Lapu-Lapu City and Cordova in Cebu; Matalom, Bato, Hilongos, Hindang and Baybay City in Leyte; Maasin City  and Macrohon in Southern Leyte.

The technical working group will coordinate and manage socio-economic initiatives such as seaweed production, blue swimming crab production and management, and provision of fishing implements to reverse the degradation of Danajon Bank caused by overfishing and illegal fishing activities

Anecita Gulayan, USAid-ECOFISH Project Site coordinator in Danajon Reef, asked the MFARMCs to propose livelihood projects for the fishing community to avoid overfishing and allow fish stocks to increase.