REGIONAL FISHERIES LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: PHILIPPINES GCP/RAS/239/SPA: RFLP Philippines Baseline Study Baseline Study for Dapitan, Rizal and Sibutad Zamboanga del Norte, Philippines Final Report Prepared by JOSE RIZAL MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY Research Unit ____________________________________________________ REGIONAL FISHERIES LIVELIHOODS PROGRAMME FOR SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA: PHILIPPINES ____________________________________ GCP/RAS/239/SPA: RFLP Philippines Baseline Study Baseline Study for Dapitan, Rizal and Sibutad Zamboanga del Norte Final Report Prepared by JOSE RIZAL MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte Written by Evelyn R. Campiseño, Maria Rio Abdon Naguit, Wilfredo D. Carreon, Jr., Bobmil C. Flores, Salvador Y. Campiseño, Ma. Blanca S. Sy, Ed Neil O. Maratas, Joseph Salvel R. Campiseño, Jay D. Telen, Jeremias B. Narvaez, Paterno S. Baguinat III, John Wayne V. Jacinto 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 have become part of this report: the Local Government Units (LGUs), City/Municipal Agriculture (MAO) and City/Municipal Planning and Development (MPDO) Offices of Dapitan, Rizal and Sibutad; the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA- BFAR); and the fishing communities of the aforementioned 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 draw support from community organizations and government institutions at different levels to sustain the 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 Dapitan City and the municipalities of Rizal and Sibutad in the province of Zamboanga del Norte which is the largest province of Zamboanga Peninsula in terms of land area. The coastal communities surveyed in Dapitan City face Dapitan Bay while those in Rizal and Sibutad are situated along Murcielagos Bay. The two bays are major resource bases 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 the two bays. 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, majority of the respondents perceived that government agencies held the major responsibility in fisheries management which involved planning, decision- making, enforcing, studying problems, assessing and monitoring fishery resources, and implementing projects. It was only the compliance with laws and regulations that about 57% of the respondents perceived to be a shared responsibility of fishers, women’s associations and government agencies. This suggests that major interventions are crucial for all the stakeholders, particularly for the fishing households, so they would be involved or get involved in matters pertaining to the management of fisheries as commons with the awareness that such involvement is not the sole responsibility of state agencies. Examples of existing policies and institutions that support or inhibit co-management and identification of areas for strengthening Some examples of institutional or legal bases for fisheries co-management in Dapitan Bay and Murcielagos Bay include the Strategic Agriculture and Fisheries Development Zone (SAFDZ) of Dapitan City which was institutionalized by virtue of its Fisheries Ordinance of 2002 which also created the City Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council. The Municipality of Rizal has also passed and approved its Municipal Fisheries Ordinance of 2002. Meanwhile, the Municipality of Sibutad along with the neighboring province of Misamis Occidental enacted and adopted what has eventually been known as the Unified iv Fisheries Ordinance for Murcielagos Bay. These are just a few but they have already provided ways by which co-management can be realized among stakeholders from the public and private sectors as well as among local government units within the same ecological zones. The attitudes and perceptions of fishers toward formal and traditional management systems and conflict resolution system The prevailing preference among 85% of the fishing households surveyed was that conflicts around fishery resources should be resolved amicably in the community by local leaders only, while about 7% said that this should be brought to court and resolved according to the provision of the law. Interestingly, 8% believed that conflict would just die down as time would pass by even without having to settle them through either formal or traditional management systems or through conflict resolution systems. Stakeholder practices in current management systems and recommendations for improvements Almost 68% of the respondents observed that the local government units had 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 was firm with the enforcement constituted only 22%, while others lamented that there were no existing regulations being implemented (6.96%) and only the fishers were enforcing some regulations but without the support of the local government. As a whole, this suggests that co-management system in enforcement was effective which was hinted earlier in terms of the compliance of fishers to these regulations. Current systems for conflict resolution Almost 80% of the respondents said that the parties who were aggrieved over the utilization of certain fishery resources usually sought the intervention of local leaders. This validated the earlier sentiments that conflicts should be resolved within the local level and, as much as possible, should not be elevated to court. This would help minimize or avoid possible litigation costs and save time that would have to be spent in court hearings. This is a good indication that co-management can be mainstreamed among the fishing households in Dipolog Bay and Murcielagos Bay. Gender roles and responsibilities Generally, almost 46% or a plurality of all the respondents observed that the following community activities such as cooperative work with manual labor, school meetings and related activities, political meetings and related activities, church meetings and related activities, preparing food for group work, and protecting and conserving the environment were shared responsibilities among men and women. Interestingly, 74% noted that protecting and conserving the environment was shared in the community by both genders. Current types of stakeholder involvement in fisheries management The immediate stakeholders of resources within Dapitan Bay and Murcielagos Bay were the fishing households because their means of livelihood depended upon the quality and v amount of resources within these bays. From the government, the stakeholders were the Department of Agriculture through the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Department of Interior and Local Government through the Philippine National Police, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development that particularly looked into the welfare of women and minors in the fishing industry. Meanwhile, the various academic institutions of higher learning (e.g. JRMSU, SU) within and outside the project areas and non-government organizations like the PIPULI Foundation had been involved and interested in the protection and conservation of the resources within the aforementioned bays. Perceptions of fishers and resource managers relating to the state of fisheries resources and allocation of benefits from fishers Fifty percent of the respondents perceived the fishery resources within Dapitan Bay and Murcielagos Bay to have deteriorated mainly because these were continuously abused in response to the seemingly uncontrollable growth of human population that had to be fed even by means of illegal fishing methods. The encroachment of big or commercial fishers into the municipal waters who competed with the poor subsistence fishers was reported although this was overruled by the majority who reported that encroachment was within control. Nevertheless, 5% 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