TAYTAY: Taking Charge of a Critical Resource A Case Study on the Philippines TAYTAY: Taking Charge of a Critical Resource A case study on the Philippines USAID Project Number: 486-A-00-08-00042-10 Written by: Chrisma Salao, Raoul Cola, Mavic Matillano Edited by: Alya B. Honasan Photos by: © WWF / Vicson Chua, except where indicated otherwise Design by: Pierre Palallos Special thanks to: The municipal government and people of Taytay, RJ de la Calzada and Joel Palma Printed in: Manila, Philippines September 2013 For more information on the six-nation Coral Triangle Initiative, please contact: Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) Interim Regional Secretariat Directorate General of Marine, Coastal and Small Islands Affairs Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Mina Bahari II Building, 17th Floor Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur No. 16, Jakarta, Indonesia www.coraltriangleinitative.org For more information on the Coral Triangle Initiative, please contact: Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF) Secretariat Coastal and Marine Management Office Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau Department of Environment and Natural Resources Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center , Diliman, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines http://www.cti.pawb.gov.ph/ This is a publication of the Coral Triangle Initiative on Corals, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF). Funding for the preparation of this document was provided by the USAID-funded Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP). CTSP is a consortium led by the World Wildlife Fund, The Nature Conservancy and Conservation International with funding support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). ©2013 World Wildlife Fund. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this report for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holder provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyright holders. Disclaimer: This document is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of the Coral Triangle Support Partnership (CTSP) and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. A Fishing Haven 05 Centuries of Resource Use 06 National protected areas 06 Irrawaddy dolphins 08 Stepping up to the plate 09 The Live Reef Fish Trade (LRFT) 11 Contradicting polices on LRFT 13 Beginnings of LRFT initiative 14 LRFT in Taytay 16 Pioneering LRFT management at the source 20 Replication in other sites and uptake by provincial government 20 Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) 21 Moving A ‘Win-Win Situation’ Forward: Lessons Learned and Challenges Faced 24 Conclusion: Leading the way 27 References 29 TAYTAY Taking Charge of a Critical Resource A Case Study on the Philippines This case study on Taytay is the sixth in a series of analyses being undertaken by WWF-Philippines. This series aims to communicate key issues and lessons from field projects to fellow practitioners, program and policy staff, personnel of managed and/or protected areas, partners, and donors. The first in the series was on the Turtle Islands in Tawi-Tawi, which tackled the issues of entry points for conservation, and how resource management ultimately depended on governance. The second case study discussed the establishment and operating systems of the multi-stakeholder environmental law enforcement program of El Nido, Palawan. The third study described how Tubbataha, a pair of offshore reefs 130 kilometers from the nearest island, works as a protected area. The fourth case related the establishment of conservation fees paid by scuba- divers in Mabini and Tingloy, Batangas. The fifth case study told the story of Donsol, Sorsogon and how the constant presence of whale sharks has transformed a small town into one of the world’s best wildlife interaction tourist sites, even as it continues to struggle with problems in fisheries management. This case study on Taytay, Palawan is about the transformation of a municipal government from resource users, into a passive participant in a national protected area program, and ultimately into a champion and model of resource management. The goal of these case studies is to help create a stronger understanding of the issues, and to promote further learning and sharing of successes and challenges. We welcome feedback on this case study, and on any others in this series. Please e-mail Joel Palma, Vice President for Conservation Programmes, WWF-Philippines (jpalma@wwf. org.ph). 03 I. A Fishing Haven Taytay is a municipality that lies north of hectares, which opens to the Sulu Sea. To the mainland Palawan. It is bordered on the north by west is Malampaya Sound at 107,000 hectares, El Nido, an area famous for its dramatic limestone which empties into the West Philippine Sea. Both island formations. Taytay may be eclipsed by its coastlines are very long and rugged; Taytay Bay, neighbor in terms of tourism, but it outshines with its islands, has an estimated coastline of 460 El Nido in fisheries. Palawan has always been at kilometers, while Malampaya is 60 kilometers long the top of the country’s list in terms of marine from its headwaters to the mouth of the sound. municipal fisheries production, yielding 150,000 Malampaya is famous for its abundant fisheries metric tons in 2012. It is followed by Iloilo, which and its Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris), a produces just about a third of that volume, at critically endangered species found only in a few 58,000 metric tons. Taytay further ranks among top remote places in Southeast Asia. Taytay Bay, on the producer municipalities in the province with its other hand, is a known habitat of dugongs (Dugong catches of anchovies, coral trout, red-belly yellow- dugon), and a source of the Live Reef Fish Trade tailed caesio, and tuna. (LRFT), particularly for coral trout (Plectropomus Taytay is one of the larger municipalities of leopardus), locally called suno. the country in terms of land area. At 126,768 Not all of Taytay’s biodiversity riches are found hectares, it is comparable in size to the province underwater. It boasts of Palawan’s endemic birds of Bataan. Its municipal waters cover even more such as the cockatoo, mynah, hornbill, white-bellied area, and because of the elongated shape of the sea eagle, osprey, and tabon. Its mammalian wildlife Malampaya Sound on the west coast of Taytay is dubbed the “fish Palawan mainland, Taytay has very distinct east and includes the anteater, bearcat, and wild boar. bowl” of the Philippines because of its rich fishing grounds. west coasts. To the east is Taytay Bay at 196,000 04 05 Centuries of resource use As a town, Taytay has a long history, having been population, the rest being migrants, mostly from the established even before the Spanish occupation Visayas. of the Philippines. It served as the capital of the The national census of 2010 pegged the province as the latter evolved through various population of Taytay at 70,837. Seventy percent names — from Calamianes (1521), to Castilla is estimated to be dependent on fishing. To say (1859), and then to Paragua (1862) — until the that fishing pressure is tremendous would be an capital was transferred to Cuyo in 1873. To this day, understatement. Such pressure comes not only Fort Santa Isabel testifies to Taytay’s importance from the local population, but also from neighboring during the Spanish era, standing guard over the municipalities and provinces, purportedly from as town’s pier. far away as Mindoro and the Visayas, as well as the The indigenous population of central and commercial fishing vessels that have plied the area’s northern Palawan are the Tagbanua, and their waters for over half a century. relationship with, and use of, natural resources has The continuing productivity of Taytay’s waters spanned over a thousand years. Artefacts found in belies its dark fishing history. Like most areas in the province reveal a history of trading with the the country, it has suffered from destructive fishing Chinese, as well as influences of the Samal people practices, such as the use of dynamite and cyanide, Malampaya Sound and the sultanate of Sulu. Although Taytay served and muro ami, a fishing method where reefs are as one of the Spanish strongholds guarding against encircled by nets, and divers bang rocks on the Muslim raids, it was only the onset of logging corals to drive fish away from their hiding places National protected areas operations during the American period in the 1920s into the waiting nets. that brought an influx of migrants. Other threats to the environment are also By the middle of the century, Malampaya present. Past logging operations have compromised Taytay has two National Integrated Protected logistical, administrative, and legal support to Sound, the western coast of the island, had been the integrity of Palawan’s forests, and rising Areas System (NIPAS) sites: the El Nido-Taytay establish the protected areas. Protected area offices established as the “fish bowl” of the country. populations meant forest land had to give way Managed Resource Protected Area (ENTMRPA), were built, Protected Area Management Boards Anecdotal accounts of fishers told of “shrimp boils,” to agriculture and other uses. Combined, they declared in 1998, and the Malampaya Sound (PAMBs) organized, and general management plans when there were so much shrimp or fish that the contribute to land-based pollution and siltation. Protected Land and Seascape (MSPLS), established developed. Both protected areas were proclaimed surface of the sea looked like it was boiling. By the Deforestation has also affected Taytay’s mangroves, in 2000.