Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-495rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-17T18:55:28.913Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Philippine Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park: Status, Management Issues, and Proposed Plan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Alan T. White  and
Vergilio P. Palaganas
Alan T. White
Affiliation:
Technical Advisor, ASEAN–US Coastal Resources Management Project, International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, MCC PO Box 1501, Makati, Manila, Philippines
Vergilio P. Palaganas
Affiliation:
Chief, Marine Parks Division, Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Quezon Boulevard, Quezon City, Philippines.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Historically, remote islands and marine resources have been free for those willing to venture into their areas. Until recent years, many such islands have been effectively managed by their remote locations and any native humans. But nowadays, under-use is turning into destructive over-fishing and plundering, because there is no surveillance. Many marine parks in South-east Asia are facing the same problems as Tubbataha (White, 1989; Arquiza, 1990). Sustainable management in these areas is a challenge, especially where there are no local authorities or communities to take immediate control.

Field surveys at Tubbataha Reef in 1984 and 1989 have revealed a dramatic decline in the coral-reef quality from the incidence of dynamite fishing, the use of sodium cyanide for the aquarium and live-food fish trades, and the dropping of large anchors. Sea-turtles and seabirds are also endangered.

Solutions in areas such as Tubbataha will require organization beyond the grasp of local residents in the islands, who have traditionally had little formal government. Although they are aware of the problem, they are faced with outsiders and intruders who do not respect their conservatism. National government and/or nongovernment organizations can play a role in management, while being careful not to alienate the positive force and management control of the local communities (White, 1988a). Such issues require sensitive planning and community-based approaches that are directed at education, organization, and the involvement and building of local responsibility.

The management plan for Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park should have three thrusts and concomitant strategies: (1) to curtail immediate resource-destruction through the deployment of a team of educators, community organizers, and law-enforcement officers; (2) to articulate and implement a Park zonation plan which includes traditional fishing areas, sanctuaries, and buoys for anchoring; and (3) to implement a community development programme which will systematically integrate the adjacent fishing community into the Park management efforts and give the fishermen due responsibility in this process.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , Summer 1991 , pp. 148 - 157
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1991

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arquiza, Y.D. (1990). Toll of the atoll. Far Eastern Economic Review (Hong Kong), 15 03, pp. 32–4, illustr.Google Scholar
Cruz, E.B. Santa & White, A.T. (1988). Baseline Survey of Environment, Resources and People of Cagayancillo Islands, Palawan. Prepared for the Tubbataha Foundation, Manila, Philippines: 51 pp., illustr. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
Maclean, J.L. (1988). Blast fishing and poisoning threaten the Philippine last undersea wilderness area. NAGA, ICLARM (Manila), 11 (4), pp. 14–5, illustr.Google Scholar
Marine Conservation and Development Program (MCDP) (1986). Final Report and Evaluation for the Marine Conservation and Development Program of Silliman University. The Asia Foundation and PVO-USAID, Manila, Philippines: 119 pp., illustr. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
Murdy, E. & Ferraris, C. (1980). The contribution of coral reef fisheries to Philippine fisheries production. ICLARM Newsletter, 6 (1), pp. 3–4.Google Scholar
Natural Resource Management Center (cited as NRMC) (1983). Field Survey Report of Tubbataha Reef, Palawan, April 6-May 8 1982. Marine Parks Inter-agency Task Force, Ministry of Natural Resources, Manila, Philippines: apparently unpublished. [Not available for checking.]Google Scholar
Palaganas, V.P., Sy, J. & Alino, P.M. (1985). Coral communities of the Tubbataha Atolls (Southern Philippines). Proceedings of the Fifth International Coral Reef Congress, Tahiti, Vol. 6, pp. 237–42.Google Scholar
Savina, G.C. & White, A.T. (1986). A Tale of Two Islands: Some lessons for marine resource management, Central Visayas, Philippines. Environmental Conservation, 13(2), pp. 107–13, illustr.Google Scholar
White, A.T. (1983). Valuable and Vulnerable Resources. In: Atlas for Marine Policy in Southeast Asian Seas, edited by Morgan, J.R. & Valencia, M.J., University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA: pp. 26–39, illustr.Google Scholar
White, A.T. (1984 a). Conservation of the marine environment. Chapter 9 in: Marine Policy in Southeast Asia, University of California Press, Berkeley, California, USA: pp. 310–40.Google Scholar
White, A.T. (1984 b). Marine Parks and Reserves: Management for Philippine, Indonesian and Malaysian Coastal Reef Environments. Department of Geography, University of Hawaii, PhD Dissertation, unpublished, 275 pp.Google Scholar
White, A.T. (1986). Marine reserves: how effective as management strategies for Philippine, Indonesian and Malaysian coral reef environments. Ocean Management (Amsterdam), 10(2), pp. 137–60, Amsterdam.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, A.T. (1987). Coral Reefs: Valuable Resources of Southeast Asia. ICLARM Education Series, Manila, Philippines: 1, 36 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
White, A.T. (1988 a). Marine Parks and Reserves: Management for Coastal Environments in Southeast Asia. ICLARM Education Series, Manila, Philippines: 2, 36 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
White, A.T. (1988 b). The effect of community-managed marine reserves in the Philippines on their associated coral-reef fish populations. Asian Fisheries Science (Manila, Philippines), 2, pp. 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, A.T. (1989). Coral Reef Management in the ASEAN-US Coastal Resources Management Project. Paper presented at the Technical Workshop ASEAN-US Program on Marine Sciences, October. Singapore: 15 pp. (typescript).Google Scholar
White, A.T. & Savina, G.C. (1987). Community-based marine reserves: a Philippine first. Pp. 2022–36 in Proceedings of Coastal Zone 87, 26–30 May, Seattle, Washington: [not available for checking].Google Scholar