1 We encourage you to use the website and mobile app for current information and to navigate the Symposium. Changes to the scientific program will be published on an addendum that will be posted on messages board. 2 In line with this year’s theme, the logo symbolizes the strategic cooperation between the scientific community and the different facets of the local institutions and the government to achieve wholesome and sustainable seas. The lower half signifies the ocean while the upper half shows the diversity of marine life and its interconnectivity with food security and environmental resilience. The halves meet at the center forming a handshake embodying the common understanding of the local communities, government, academe, private sector, NGOs, and especially the Filipino masses on the protection, management, and holistic conservation of the oceans. Lastly, the hues used also represent the colors of the sea at the break of dawn, signifying a new chapter for a more hopeful, science-based, and community- oriented future of the Philippine seas. Best logo design for PAMS15 Mr. John Michael Lastimoso 3 SYMPOSIUM SPONSORS 4 Welcome Message It is with great pleasure and excitement that we, the Philippine Association of Marine Science Officers 2017-2019, welcome you to the 15th National Symposium in Marine Science at the Aklan State University, Banga, Aklan on July 4-6, 2019 with the theme “Fostering synergy of science, community and governance for healthy seas.” As PAMS continues to undertake the task of promoting growth in marine science in the country, the PAMS15 will focus on highlighting the complex people-sea relationship and look more closely on the ways by which we can address the growing issues and risks to food security, biodiversity, and community resilience. For this singular challenge, we invite you to be a member of PAMS as it aims to provide a venue for workers in marine science and allied areas of specialization to link and network among local and international institutions. We endeavor to catalyze deeper collaboration vital to advancing knowledge on tropical marine and coastal ecosystems and applying transdisciplinary action and advocacy to aid our ailing seas and coastal communities. Your participation as stakeholders for the agenda of synergy in science, governance and local communities for healthy seas are most welcome. Let us listen to each other, learn from each other, create and re-create together. We look forward to seeing you and building closer partnerships with you for the interdependent resilience of our seas and oceans with our common heritage, for our common future. Yasmin H. Primavera-Tirol President, PAMS155 2017-2019 5 Message from the Aklan State University Republic of the Philippines AKLAN STATE UNIVERSITY Banga, Aklan I would like to extend my great felicitations to the Philippine Association on Marine Science (PAMS) for holding their 15th National Symposium on Marine Science here at Aklan State University Main Campus in Banga this July 4-6, 2019. On behalf of the University, I am also extending my profound gratitude to the organizers for the trust and confidence afforded to ASU as your venue of choice for this activity. You are warmly welcome to feel the ambiance of an eco-friendly University. We have a good mix of participants from practitioners, researchers, from the academia, and known scientists as resource persons. The topics for discussion in this Symposium are so enriching and therefore tickle our creative minds and heighten our enthusiasm to participate and make full use of the information shared by our resource persons and experts. But more to that is the wide range of experience by our practitioners who used science and technology in solving the most pressing problems and challenges in marine resources management. Today, we are looking for impact and outcomes of research output from our institutions doing a great deal of researching. Therefore, my challenge for all of us to do is shifting gears towards “researching for impact” – that is, talking not only of the traditional research results and shelving it but extending our thinking and doing towards what impact research has done to general well being of people in the actual environment. Those working in the field can provide real testimonies of the impact of science to the development of marine and marine-related ecosystems. We hope this Symposium will be able to explicitly address this concern. Again, my congratulations so profound. Mabuhay! DANILO E. ABAYON President, Aklan State University 6 Message from the Municipal Mayor of Banga, Aklan Republic of the Philippines Province of Aklan Municipality of Banga Banga, Aklan My warmest greetings and felicitations to the Philippine Association of Marine Science on your 15th National Symposium in Marine Science, July 4-6, 2019 at the Aklan State University, Banga, Aklan. Your there “ Fostering Synergy of Science, Community and Governance for Healthy Seas” is a true essence that we really need to work collectively in protecting our wealth of nature that due to the evolution of time and technology advancement had been greatly affected. May this symposium, in this field of science shall further your goal of protecting what was left got us and the next generation to come. Thank you and enjoy your short stay in our town, aptly called “Banga the Beautiful.” ERLINDA M. MAMING Municipal Mayor 7 Message from the Provincial Governor of Aklan Republic of the Philippines Province of Aklan Kalibo, Aklan On behalf of the provincial government of Aklan and the Aklanons, let me welcome all our officers and members of the Philippine Association of Marine Science, guest, participants of the 15th National Symposium in Marine Science with the theme: Fostering synergy of science, community and governance for healthy seas. The Provincial Government of Aklan is honoured that you have chosen Aklan to be your destination in this momentous event. We invite you to visit the white beach of Boracay; the 7 basin Jawili falls in Tangalan; the Eco-Mangrove Park of Ibajay and Kalibo; the Lagatik River Cruise and scenic sites of Pinamuk-an and Kapispisan Islands of New Washington and Tinagong-dagat of Batan; the picturesque beach and magnificient caves of Buruanga; the cold springs of Nabas; and many other wonders in the province such as the centuries-old churches, rare coral reefs and lush rainforest. Congratulations, Philippine Association of Marine Science for this successful event! FLORENCIO T. MIRAFLORES Provincial Governor 8 Message from the House of Representatives, 1st District of Aklan Republic of the Philippines House of Representatives Batasan Complex, Quezon City My warmest greetings to the 15th National Symposium in Marine Science by the Philippine Association of Marine Science (PAMS). This event presents a crucial forum to develop solutions for our shared concerns, and to underscore the importance of healthy seas. We salute your mission and objective which are very vital to the tropical marine and coastal ecosystems. With your continued studies, we are guaranteed that we can still revive our ailing seas and coastal communities of the archipelago.The inclusiveness of marine science lends thrust to our agenda of citizen empowerment. With professionals guiding us to preserve our seas and the ecosystem, our nation further breaks away from the cycle of burden and hampered potential and shifts towards a more sustainable framework of vitality and productivity. Your gathering today serves as a focal point of this reform. Your consensus drives excellence in your specialization and helps pivot our fellow Filipinos towards an improved quality of life. May you maximize this venue to inform and refine our local programs in marine science. Let your insight shape our institutions into viable units of compassionate and technology-enabled service. As you carry the task of promoting growth in marine science in the country and truly recognizing the important role of Filipino scientists in furthering knowledge on tropical marine ecosystems, I wish you good luck as you hold these biennial national symposia. May the daylight of hope and reform continue to light our paths towards the fulfillment of our great potential as a nation. We in government believe with national scientist Dolores Ramirez, “those that put science at a higher priority are invariably progressive. And those that put science as an afterthought usually stays behind”. I wish you then a meaningful and productive event. God bless PAMS and may God bless Aklan! HON. CARLITO S. MARQUEZ Congressman, 1st District of Aklan 9 Message from the Undersecretary of BFAR Republic of the Philippines Department of Agriculture BUREAU OF FISHERIES AND AQUATIC RESOURCES PCA Building, Elliptical Road, Diliman, Quezon City1101 Tel. No. (632) 929-9597 Fax No.: (632) 929-8074 Congratulations to the Philippine Association of Marine Science (PAMS) for bringing together this country’s marine science experts, managers and stakeholders through the 15th National Symposium in Marine Science. The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), with the ultimate mandate of protecting and conserving our aquatic resources for food security and the sustainability of livelihood of our fisherfolk, is truly honored to be part of this occasion. Here we can share knowledge and integrate ways by which we can more sustainably manage our marine resources, the lifeblood of an archipelagic country such as the Philippines. The policies of DA-BFAR have always been science-based. For many years now, the research initiatives of the scientific community have driven some of the most effective and community-efficient policies we have developed to combat fisheries issues like unsustainable ways of fishing. Management measures such as the establishment of closed fishing seasons and fisheries management areas in major fishing grounds are all fruits of the interface between science and governance that we all worked hard to forge. We are optimistic that with our combined efforts, we will be able to push for clean, abundant and sustainably managed oceans.