Page 1 of 8
Establishment and Operation of a Regional System of Fisheries Refugia in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand
REPORT
FISHERIES REFUGIA SITE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING
CORON, PALAWAN 1 SEPTEMBER 2022
Prepared by
NATIONAL FISHERIES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (NFRDI) PHILIPPINES
SOUTHEAST ASIAN FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT CENTER TRAINING DEPARTMENT
Page 2 of 8
First published in Phrasamutchedi, Samut Prakan, Thailand in September 2022 by the SEAFDEC-UNEP- GEF Fisheries Refugia Project, Training Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center
Copyright © 2022, SEAFDEC-UNEP-GEF Fisheries Refugia Project
This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgment of the source is made. The SEAFDEC-UNEP-GEF Fisheries Refugia Project would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this as a source.
No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose without prior permission in writing from the SEAFDEC Secretary-General.
Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Training Department
P.O.Box 97, Phrasamutchedi, Samut Prakan, Thailand Tel: (66) 2 425 6100
Fax: (66) 2 425 6110
https://fisheries-refugia.org and https://seafdec.or.th
DISCLAIMER:
The contents of this report do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the Global Environment Facility.
For citation purposes this document may be cited as:
NFRDI/Philippines, 2022. Establishment and Operation of a Regional System of Fisheries Refugia in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand, Report of Fisheries Refugia Site Management Committee Meeting: Coron Site. Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Training Department, Samut Prakan, Thailand; Fisheries Refugia Rep-PH60, 8 p.
Southeast Asian Fisheries
Development Center United Nations
Environment Programme Global Environment Facility
Page 3 of 8 MEETING MINUTES MEMBERS
Local Government Unit (LGU)
Mayor Hon. Mario T. Reyes (Represented by: Mr.
Geronimo Gevela)
SB Chair - Agriculture and Fisheries Hon. Philip Andrew A. Astor (Member) Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) Mr. Geronimo Gevela (Member)
MPDC – LGU Engr. Michael Fababier (Member)
Philippine National Police Maritime PSSg Santiago C. Miraveles (represented by Pat Mikko Jay Gammad)
ABC President Hon. Abelardo B. Alvarez (Member)
Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Mr. Daniel Javier (Member) Resources Management Council (MFARMC)
MPDO Engr. Michael Adrian Fababier (represented by Mr.
Ralph Virhel Z. Birang) Palawan Council for Sustainable
Development Staff (District Manager) Ms. Ma. Christina D. Rodriguez (represented by:
Ms. Sommer J. Buyante)
Academe Representative Dr. Benjamin E. Ablaza (represented by Mr.
Genesis Escobin)
Fish Right CFI, NGO Mr. Mark Anthony Jabines (Member) Guests: Mr. Janry S. Ducado – Agricultural Technologist
Ms. Gretchen L. Pajarillo – MPDO Staff Ms. Josephine Arceo – BFAR-PFO Ms. Jenevieve Caacbay – BFAR-PFO Mr. JC Terrenz Cuario – BFAR-PFO National Scientific and Technical Focal
Person Mr. Valeriano M. Bo
Secretariat: Mr. John Eliezer Pendre
Monitoring and Evaluation Team:
Ms. Marites B. Chiuco – Planning Office V, Chief, PPID Ms. Ma. Theresa T. Oclos – Planning Officer II
Mr. Tyronne James J. Buico – Planning Officer I
1. The Meeting started with the usual preliminaries. After the acknowledgement and introduction of participants, the overview of the meeting was discussed briefly by the Secretariat.
2. The main objective of the meeting was to update the committee on the progress of the project implementation and the remaining project activities for 2022. In addition, the results of the baseline data collected in the site were also presented to the stakeholders. Presentations included the Fisheries Landing Survey (2017-2020), Fish Eggs and Larvae Survey (2018-2019), revised Refugia Site Boundary Delineation for Coron, and Reproductive Biology Data for the Priority Species.
3. During the preliminaries, Mr. Valeriano Borja gave the opening remarks and acknowledged and thanked the management committee members who were present during the meeting despite the difficulties of conducting face-to-face meetings due to the pandemic especially in the municipality of Coron since this is the very first meeting conducted in 2022. Mr. Geronimo Gevela, the Municipal Agriculturist introduced participants present. The NFRDI Policy, Planning and Information Division also introduced the monitoring team to the participants.
Page 4 of 8 4. Call to order and determination of Quorum
Hon. Mayor Mario T. Reyes was not able to attend the meeting as he has equally important meeting to attend with the LGU. Mayor Reyes was represented by Mr. Gevela. Hon. Abelardo B. Alvarez, Liga ng mga Barangay President presided the meeting and called the meeting to order at 9:30 AM. The provisional agenda was approved by the Committee. See attached ANNEX A.
I. Plenary Workshop
A. Approval of the Previous Minutes of the Meeting
5. Hon. Alvarez read the previous minutes of the meeting and gave emphasis on the changes of the committee members as agreed by the committee. Mr. Gevela noted the revision of the executive order organizing the new members of the refugia site management committee and he informed the meeting that he will continue to follow-up the approval of the EO.
B. Fisheries Landing Survey (2017-2020)
6. For the fisheries landing survey, the secretariat presented the data for 2017-2020. Based on the discussion, highest landed catch were observed from Coron Bay from 2017-2020. A decline in the actual landed catch was observed in 2020. The committee attributed the low catch in 2020 to the mobility restrictions brought about by the CoVid-19 pandemic. In terms of the percentage contribution of the fishing gears in Coron, Palawan,highest catch were observed from the bagnet fisheries (57%). Top fish species were Spratelloides gracilis (30%), followed by Thunnus albacares (6%), Encrasicholina punctifer (5%) and 4 fish species namely Sardinella lemuru, Caesio cunning, Ambligaster sirm, and Decapterus muroadsi (4%). The site committee confirmed that the highest fish species caught in the municipality is Spratelloides gracilis locally known as “dilis” which was also supported by the fishing gear with the highest percent contribution, bagnet. For the catch per unit effort (CPUE), highest catch were observed in years 2018-2019 while there is an increase in the effort (boat) from 2017-2019.
A huge decline in the catch and effort were observed in 2020 due to the pandemic.
C. Fish Eggs and Larvae Data (2018-2019)
7. Mr. Valeriano M. Borja, National Scientific and Technical Focal Point of the project, presented and discussed the results of the fish eggs and larvae data for Coron, Palawan. Based on the data, the highest concentration of fish eggs was observed during the November 2018 survey (2,095 ind./1000³) and May 2019 (2,036 ind./1000³). High abundance of fish eggs was observed in station 2 (Barangay Guadalupe) followed by station 5 (Barangay Lajala) during the 2 years survey. Low abundance of fish eggs was observed in station 7 fronting Barangay Tagumpay. The main spawning areas was recorded in station 2 followed by station 5. High Fish larval concentration was observed in station 3 between Barangay Bintuan and Barangay Lajala. Low concentration of fish larvae observed in station 1 followed by station 7. The main nursery ground was observed in station 3.
D. Revised Refugia Site Boundary Delineation for Coron
8. The results of the fish eggs and larvae aided the project management office to identify the possible spawning and nursery areas. The proposed refugia were located between Bintuan and Lajala for the nursery refugia and Guadalupe and Lajala for the spawning refugia. Mr.
Gevela of the MAO confirmed that there are no existing management policies in the areas
Page 5 of 8
proposed, hence, the suggestion of creating fisheries refugia in the site might be approved by the Coron Legislative Committee (Sangguniang Bayan). The site committee approved the recommendation for the fisheries refugia sites as presented by Mr. Borja.
E. Reproductive Biology Data of Priority Species
9. The results of the reproductive biology sampling of the priority species in the site was discussed by Mr. John Eliezer Pendre, Science Research Analyst. The identified priority species were Caesio cuning and Decapterus muroadsi, locally known as “dalagang-bukid” and
“galunggong”, respectively. The data collected was for the Gonado-somatic Index of the priority species. Based on the result of gonad maturity of Caesio cuning, the species is a partial spawner since every month there is a spawner and every month various egg stages are present. In GSI, the peak month for the species is the month of April with an average GSI value of 2.22%. Based on the result of gonad maturity of Decapterus muroadsi, the species is also a partial spawner since every month there is a spawner and every month various egg stages are also present. In GSI, the peak month for the species is the month of February (7.00%) and a decline on March with an average GSI value of 4.33%.
F. Other Matters and Way Forward
10. Ms. Marites Chuico, Planning Office V, and chief of PPID raised three (3) important questions during the meeting. First, how the priority species in Coron was identified; second, what are the available policy regulations in Coron Bay shared with other municipalities; and third, are there any updated data on the FishR and BoatR of the municipality.
11. In terms of the priority speies, Mr. Borja explained that initially, Lutjanus argentimaculatus also known as Mangrove Jack, was the proposed priority species of the site. However, the main objective of establishing a fisheries refugia was to conserve economically important commodities not included in the local policy regulations of the municipality. Mr. Rey Templonuevo, BFAR – Provincial Fisheries Officer in Coron, confirmed that there was already an existing regulation of the conservation of the mangrove jacks since it is a part of the Marine Protected Areas in Siete Picados. This information therefore helped the committee to come into an agreement of changing the priority species based on the commodity in the municipality and based on the results of the fisheries landing, eggs and larvae surveys.
“dalagang bukid” and “galunggong” were among the ten highest species observed in Coron.
Moreover, families Caesionidae and Scombridae were among the families of high abundance observed in the proposed spawning nursery refugia.
12. For the available policy regulations in Coron Bay, Mr. Gevela clarified that Coron Bay as a fishing ground, is not shared with other neighboring municipalities hence, policies available were ordinances from LGU Coron. Furthermore, the municipal agriculturist office has available data the BoatR and FishR although, due to the increase in the operating bancas for tourism purposes only, there is a need to update the data available.
13. The revision of the membership was agreed during the previous meeting. Mr. Gevela suggested to the site committee that he will follow-up and facilitate other matters concerning the revision of the EO.
14. The open-forum regarding the upcoming activities for the site in the last quarter of 2022 was discussed. As suggested by Mr. Templonuevo and Mr. Gevela, a law enforcement training will be conducted to deputize the members of the Bantay Dagat. Mr. Borja, requested for an activity proposal from BFAR and MAO in order to assess if the project can assist them during the conduct of the activity. A review on the draft management plan for Coron site was also suggested by Mr. Mark Anthony Jabines from Fish Right CFI.
Page 6 of 8
15. The site committee agreed for a separate meeting on the review of the management plan and the Q4 meeting of the site committee in November.
G. Closing Remarks
16. During the closing ceremonies, SB on Environment and Fisheries Hon. Philip Andrew Astor gave his closing remarks expressing his appreciation to the NFRDI for the project. He highlighted that the LGU will be supporting the fisheries refugia project as it also meets the goal of the LGU, to protect the livelihood of the fisherfolk, conserve the resources and introduce sustainability in the municipality.
17. The National Scientific and Technical Focal Person likewise expressed his appreciation to the active participation of the refugia site committee members and looks forward to a more fruitful collaboration with the Coron Local officials and the Community. He then declared the adjournment of the meeting.
ANNEX A:
MEETING AGENDA
• Presentation of Fisheries Landing Survey (2017-2020)
• Presentation of Fish Eggs and Larvae Data (2018-2019)
• Presentation of revised Refugia Site Boundary Delineation for Coron
• Presentation of Results of the Reproductive Biology Data
• Other Matters and Way Forward
PHOTO DOCUMENTATION:
Page 7 of 8
Page 8 of 8
