The tungog (Ceriops tagal) industry and prospects for mangrove rehabilitation Item Type article Authors Primavera, Jurgenne H.; Pena, Lilian de la Download date 02/10/2021 05:03:59 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/35152 Special report T he tungog (C eriops ta ga l) industry and prospects for mangrove rehabilitation BY Did you know that the red color of tuba, Jurgenne Honculada Primavera,PhD meters high) in well-drained clay soil but the fermented coconut drink daily imbibed Senior Scien tist grows as a short shrub (1 meter tall) in by countless Filipinos all over the islands, AND poorly drained soils frequently inundated comes from a dye obtained from the dried Lilian de la Peña, MSc by tides. extract (called cutch) of mangrove bark? Associate Researcher Aside from fermenting tuba, cutch The cutch from tangal (a mangrove spe­ SEA F D E C / AQD from tungog is also used to color rice, to cies whose scientific name is C eriops dye thick leather, cotton, nylon, mats, tagal), called tun gog or baluk, is tradi­ etc. and to prevent scales from form­ tionally used for tuba because it is ef­ ing in water boilers. One hectare of fective in retarding fermentation. But well-developed mangrove forest can because the supply has been depleted produce 17,700 kilos of dried tanbark. due to excessive ta n g a l harvesting, The export of mangrove tanbarks and tu n gog nowadays is routinely mixed cutch extract is an important industry in with cutch from Rhizophora, another some tropical countries but not in the mangrove locally called bakhaw (hence Philippines where the barks are used the term bakhawan or bakawan to de­ locally to only a limited extent (Brown note a mangrove area) although tuba & Fisher 1918). prepared using bakhaw extract can cause Stripped of its bark, the tangal tree indigestion. provides hard, straight-grained, fine-tex­ tured wood used as poles for baklad (fish Uses corrals) and material for furniture and house construction. This species is also Tungog (from which katunggan, another a favorite for Christmas trees. term for mangrove is derived) is also used as the fermenting agent for The tungog industry: 1930s-1950s bahalina, a special variety of tuba that gets mellower with age, unlike ordinary The following account of the industry tuba. It is produced only in Cebu, Bohol, was provided by former Boholano Leyte and Samar. Tuba is also combined tungog gatherers, now 60-70 years old. with a carbonated drink (Royal Tru- They started their trade at the age of 14- Orange) and beer into a cocktail called 15 years during the peak of the industry mestiza. Old women drink tuba mixed with Mr. Juan de Jesus, a tuba gatherer of Ibajay, in the 1930s to the 1950s. At this time, Aklan has been planting and harvesting tsokolate (made from cacao beans) every around 100 sailboats fortungog gathering tangal trees for over 20 years now evening to ease tensed muscles. Tungog is were based in four villages in Pangangan also believed to cure anemia. Because of Island, Bohol. the great demand for tungog cutch, espe­ northern Australia to North Caledonia and Each sailboat had a keel 60-90 feet cially in eastern Visayas, the region has to Micronesia in the South Pacific and to long, two masts each measuring 70 feet, a import hundreds of tons of cutch yearly Hong Kong. It is called the yellow man­ buwang (opening) of 12 feet, and dagpak from as far away as Zamboanga and Sabah grove because of its bright yellow-green of 8 feet. The largest sailboat could load in North Borneo. leaves which may be dark green in shaded 6,000 kilos of driedtungog. An Indo-Pacific species, C eriops tagal areas. It is a typical constituent of the inner Among the crew, it was the m aestro is widely distributed from East Africa and (middle and landward) m angrove zone and who directed the trip (e.g., the route to take, Madagascar, throughout tropical Asia and forms pure stands of small trees (2 to 7 where to sell and at what price) while the 6 SEAFDEC Asian Aquaculture Vol. XX No. 6 December 1998 tungog industry • primavera & de la peña segunda maestro supervised the crew and A tangal (Ceriops tagal) plantation in Aklan, country and longer to Borneo. the tu n g o g gatherers. The m a n u n o n g northern Panay with pencil-like propagules Places for collecting tungog bark were dangling from tree branches. guarded the boat and kept watch for bahura Dumaran in Palawan, Ulutanga in (coral reefs) which could ground the Zamboanga, Surigao, Cotabato, Tungkil boat. Island near Jolo, Mindoro, Camotes, Polilio Island in Luzon, Kudat and Financiers and the sharing system Banggi in North Borneo. Philippine mangroves used to be Although there were many boat owners divided into concessions by the Bureau in Pangangan in the 1930s, only four of Forestry. Two financiers from people had enough capital to finance a Pangangan were granted concessions in trip. A boat owner and financier would Palawan and Polilio Is. in Luzon. Gath­ usually combine resources in a partner­ erers paid fees to these concessionaires. ship called kompanya. From the gross In Borneo, gatherers paid 14 bundles of income for each trip, the financier would dried tungog to a certain Datu Mustafa, deduct the capital plus 5-10% monthly governor of Kudat, North Borneo. To interest. The net income was divided into enter Borneo however, they had to pay three equal parts, one each for the fin­ protection money (2 sacks of rice) to a ancier, boat owner, and crew. Muslim leader in Balabac, Palawan. Sharing or partida was according to the skills of the crew. A crew mem­ Bark removal ber who could untangle the boat’s an­ chor from coral stones was paid more Because a Department of Forestry ordi­ incentives or p a b or than one who could nance prohibited the sale of mangrove neither dive nor swim. Diving and swim­ bark less than one-fourth to one-half of ming skills were needed for the gather­ an inch thick, gatherers look for man­ ing of sam ung (shells made into buttons groves with thicker bark. Trees with for export), a side activity of the crew. thick bark could be found only in The cook and apprentices or those from Banggi, North Borneo. Therefore, farming villages usually did not get in­ Banggi bark was used as a sample for centives. One system of sharing among showing to prospective buyers but not the crew followed this scheme: one for sale. m aestro - one part and 10 pa b or, one Unlike other mangroves such as segunda maestro - 1 part and 7 pabor, pagatpat, tungog easily dies when one m anunong (diver) - 1 part and 6 stripped of its bark. There are two ways pabor, 20 m anunungog (tungog gath­ of removing the bark: by kuyo for short Tungog or the extract from dried bark of erer) - 1 part each, and one cook - 1 part. mangroves (e.g., parang-parang) and by tangal (shown above beside propagules) gives However, a hardworking gatherer could be padyag for tall mangroves (e.g., tabyog). tuba its typical red color given an incentive by the m aestro. In the kuyo system, most of the bark is Another system was by percentage or removed but the tree is left standing. In the porsiento. From the gross income was de­ (because it is difficult to retrieve figures for padyag, the tree is first cut and then stripped ducted the capital including 5-10% monthly the operational costs). For example, a trip of its bark. interest. The net gain was divided in two: to Zamboanga with 20 crew required 60 Dried tungog were classified as big or 30% to the boat owner (20% to the owner sacks of corn, 1 sack of m onggo, 2 sacks of small. Bundles of 20 pieces each were sold and 10% to the m aestro) and 20% to the sugar, 1 sack of salt and 300 liters of drink­ at P0.10 for small pieces and P2.00 for big crew (5% to the maestro, 2% to the segunda ing water. Fish was caught by crew mem­ ones. The bundles were peddled by the crew m aestro and 3% to all kasko leaders). Each bers (or purchased) during the journey. by means of “ suroy suroy” in Waray speak­ kasko (or canoe for entering the mangroves) Trips were undertaken in March to July ing places, e.g., Tacloban, Ormoc, had 2 crew members and a num ber of gath­ (during the northwest monsoon or amihan) Calbayog, Carigara, Maasin. Or dried bark erers. and the return during the habagat or south­ was sold wholesale by the financier mostly The scale of a gathering operation or west monsoon to take advantage of the to Chinese buyers in Cebu. trip could be gauged by the food supply wind. Trips lasted 4-5 months within the page 8 SEAFDEC Asian Aquaculture Vol. XX No. 6 December 1998 7 special report tungog industry ... from p 7 AQD journal publ … from p 5 Whether as source of cutch for tuba or were conducted in 1994 and 1995. Shrimp Aquaspirillum sp., Pseudomonas sp., baklad poles or wood for house construc­ samples were taken from 23 grow-out Streptococcus sp. and A. hydrophila in­ tion, tanga l is an important reforestation ponds, 14 of which had disease outbreaks. duced slight, slight, moderate and severe species whose products can be sold for cash Luminous bacterial (LB) load of the dermomuscular necrotic lesions, respec­ or used for domestic purposes by coastal shrimps’ hp with [mean = 2.4 x 101 colony tively.