Baseline Study for Dipolog, Katipunan, Manukan and Roxas, Zamboanga Del Norte, Philippines
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REGIONAL FISHERIES LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: PHILIPPINES GCP/RAS/239/SPA: RFLP Philippines Baseline Study Baseline Study for Dipolog, Katipunan, Manukan and Roxas, Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines Final Report Prepared by JOSE RIZAL MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY Research Unit ______________________________________________________ REGIONAL FISHERIES LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHEST ASIA: PHILIPPINES ____________________________________ GCP/RAS/239/SPA: RFLP Philippines Baseline Study Baseline Study for Dipolog, Katipunan, Manukan and Sibutad, Zamboanga del Norte Final Report Prepared by JOSE RIZAL MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte Written by Maria Rio Abdon Naguit, Evelyn R. Campiseño, Daylinda R. Laput, Clarita Bidad, Carina Romarate, Bernard Gilaga, Romie Laranjo, Renato Malate December 2011 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This baseline study was made possible by the assistance and cooperation of several agencies and countless individuals in the Province of Zamboanga del Norte. The following agencies are thanked for providing important data that become part of this report: the Local Government Units (LGUs), City/Municipal Agriculture (MAO) and City/Municipal Planning and Development (MPDO) Offices of Dipolog, Katipunan, Manukan and Roxas; the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA- BFAR); and the fishing communities of the aforementioned city and municipalities. Finally, this study could not have been realized without the generosity of the Government of Spain and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). iii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The primary goal of Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme (RFLP) is to improve the livelihoods of small-scale fishers in the program area through targeted interventions that will produce grass root effects of improved fisheries management and livelihood development. The ultimate aim is to have community organizations and government institutions at different levels supporting efforts for fisheries co-management, livelihood development, improved quality and reduction of vulnerability in small-scale fishing communities. Realizing this noble goal of RFLP requires data for designing and implementing intervention programs. The baseline study covers the coastal communities of Dipolog City and the municipalities of Katipunan, Manukan and Roxas in the province of Zamboanga del Norte which is the largest province of Zamboanga Peninsula in terms of land area. The coastal communities surveyed are situated along Dipolog Bay. The bay is a major resource base of fishing households in these communities but the quality and quantity of fisheries here had been exposed to pressures brought about by the demand of growing population and destructive human activities. Thus, addressing these problems is urgently needed with the involvement of various stakeholders to curb the further depletion of fisheries in this particular bay like elsewhere in Zamboanga del Norte. The succeeding sections are the highlights of the baseline study given the available data that address the information needed as stated in the Terms of Reference of the project. On Co-management Concept Current understanding and expectations of the concept “co-management” Generally speaking, the majority of the respondents in all sites perceived that government agencies have the major responsibility in undertaking most of the functions in fisheries management including formulation of policies, enforcement of laws and regulations, study of the conditions and problems of fishery resources monitoring and assessment of fishery resources, and dissemination of information about these matters. This disposition is true for all sites except that monitoring and assessing the status of fishery resources is observed by the respondents from Manukan and Roxas as a shared responsibility of the government and fishing households and organizations. Specific data will further show that co-management is evident in Dipolog (66.67%) and Manukan (37.74%) which considered that planning for the management of fishery resources was a joint task of all local stakeholders: government, fishers and women. Examples of existing policies and institutions that support or inhibit co-management and identification of areas for strengthening Aside from the national laws such the Local Government Code of 1991 (Republic Act 7160) and the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998 (Republic Act 8550) that devolve some government functions to the local government units and provide the necessary legal mechanisms such as the management and regulation of coastal and marine resources, there are likewise corresponding ordinances passed by the local legislative bodies in the study sites iv to realize or implement such environmental mandates. These come in the forms of fishery ordinances that not only state the rules and regulations on fishing and the management of fisheries within the municipal waters, they also provide the ways by which the fishery and other sectors in the community can be involved and specifically the various fishers’ associations in coastal barangays within Dipolog Bay. The attitudes and perceptions of fishers to formal and traditional management systems and conflict resolution system The prevailing preference among 49% of the fishing households surveyed is that conflict around fishery resources should be resolved amicably in the community by local leaders only, while about 22% said that this should be brought to court and resolved according to the provision of the law. Interestingly, about 29% believed that conflict will just die out as time passes by without settling them either through the formal or traditional management systems or conflict resolution system. Stakeholder practices in current management systems and recommendations for improvements Thirty-seven percent of the respondents observed that the local government units have strongly enforced the regulations pertaining to the protection and conservation of fishery resources together with the active participation of fishers either as individuals or associations. Those who said that only the government is strong in enforcement is also significant (30.94%), while only a few (13.59%) lamented that there are no existing regulations being implemented. The percentage of those who said that only the fishers are enforcing some regulations but without the support of the local government (18.11%) is quite higher. As a whole, co-management system enforcement is not working well and much has to be done in order so that the local government units, the fishing sector and other stakeholders can work together. Current systems for conflict resolution Almost 59% of the respondents said that the parties who are aggrieved over the utilization of certain fishery resources usually seek the intervention of local leaders. Although this validated the earlier sentiments that conflicts should be resolved within the local level, the percentage of those who said that nothing is done to resolve the conflict is not negligible (29.81%). Only 11% said that aggrieved parties usually go to court and file cases to resolve the source of conflict. Gender roles and responsibilities Generally, only 36% of all the respondents observed that the following community activities such as political meetings, school meetings, church meetings, cooperative work with manual labor, preparing food for group work, and protecting and conserving the environment are shared responsibilities. But manual labor and political meetings are the domains of men according to 71% and 35% of the respondents, respectively. In contrast, school meetings and food preparation are the tasks handled by women according to 49% and 43% of the respondents, respectively. 44.15% of the respondents noted that protecting and conserving the environment is shared in the community by men and women. v Current types of stakeholder involvement in fisheries management The immediate stakeholders of resources within Dipolog Bay are the fishing households because their main livelihood depends upon the quality and amount of aquatic resources within this bay. Some are members of fishers associations that are involved in the management of coastal resources within their respective areas. From the government, the stakeholders are the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Department of Interior and Local Government. Perceptions of fishers and resource managers relating to the state of fisheries resources and allocation of benefits from fisheries Fifty-eight percent of the respondents perceived the fishery resources within Dipolog Bay have deteriorated mainly because of intensive and destructive fishing methods and other human activities in surrounding areas that have polluted and silted the bay causing damage to the mangroves, seagrass beds and coral reefs. Although commercial fishers are strongly restricted within the municipal waters they still pose threats and compete with the poor municipal fishers. Nevertheless, only 21% of the respondents complained of being deprived of their rightful access to municipal fishery resources because of the encroachment of commercial fishers. Safety at Sea and Vulnerability Reduction Current legal frameworks and guidance for safety at sea measures Unfortunately, there were no data provided for this section but it is presumed that there are local legal mechanisms which serve as the basis for enforcement of safety