Left: Map of the Republic of the Philippines. The island of Bohol in the Central Visayas Region is encircled in pink. Below right: Close-up of Bohol , with the smaller island of Panglao to the southwest, where the barangay of Tawala is located. Base maps provided by ReefBase (www.reefbase.org).

Although most residents fish or glean for home consumption, it is not their main livelihood. Many find work at any number of beach resorts in the area as housekeeping or restaurant staff, or make their living selling shells as souvenirs or operating boats for hire on dolphin and whale watching tours. Sometimes large fish are sold to resorts as well.

The Marine Protected Area

The Tawala Marine Protected Area (MPA) was set up in 1998 as one of eight sanctuaries established within Panglao waters under a Municipal Ordinance. With a size of only 3.18 hectares, Tawala is the second from smallest MPA in the municipality, and consists of seagrass beds and coral reef (see diagram on next page). Important marine species in Tawala include sea urchins and cucumbers, groupers, snappers and spider conch. As with the other MPAs, Tawala was declared to protect and conserve its marine resources from degradation, and to address the problem of declining fish catches. Another motivation for establishing the MPA was to explore the potential for tourist activities and thus gain additional income for the barangay through user fees. Many sites in other parts of the country remain "paper" MPAs because no actual management (e.g., enforcement, monitoring) is taking place. Tawala is one of the few that have hands-on management and active input from the local community.

The maintenance of the Tawala MPA is truly a joint effort. It is managed by the Barangay Council of Tawala in partnership with the People’s Organization (PO) known as the Tawala United Organization (TUO). Regular patrolling is conducted mainly by Barangay Tanods (local officials), as well as Bohol Environmental Management Office (BEMO, an arm of the Provincial government), Coastal Law Enforcement Council (CLEC), and TUO. The electricity in the guard house was installed with support from Crystal Coast Resort and Restaurant, a local business. Technical support is provided by non-government organizations (NGOs) and universities.

Pascasio Lorefero, member of the Banrangay Tawods,the local
patrol unit for Tawala MPA. Photo by Toni Parras

Part of a larger project - theBohol Marine Triangle Project (BMTP)

The Tawala Marine Sanctuary is part of a larger initiative called the Bohol Marine Triangle Project (BMTP), started in 2001 and carried out by the Foundation for the Philippine Environment (FPE) with funding from the United Nations Development Programme’s Global Environment Facility. The BMTP includes Panglao Island and the nearby smaller islands of Pamilacan and Balicasag (see diagram below). The Tawala community receives technical assistance from FPE in connection with the project, as well as marker buoys, signboards, flashlights and megaphones for patrolling and enforcement.

Tawala MPA and the Bohol Marine Triangle Project. Source: BMTP

Bingag Marine Sanctuary (see related story), located on the northwestern shore of PanglaoIsland is also part of the BMTP. Tawala and Bingag are provisional-level member sites in the LMMA Network, having collected nearly 60% of the Network’s Learning Framework factors. Of the 10 communities that make up the BMTP, only Tawala and Bingag are actively participating in Network activities thus far. Tawala and Bingag have both drafted barangay resolutions for their protected areas; Tawala currently has a municipal ordinance supporting theirs, while Bingag’s is under way.

These two sites first became involved with the Network in April 2003, after John Diviva from BMTP and Tawala Councilor Eduardo Mejos attended the Philippine LMMA Network (PLMMA) Orientation Workshop held in Dumaguete, followed up by a local introduction for these two interested communities by PLMMA coordinator Daisy Flores-Salgado. The BMTP has expressed interest in making all of their sites part of the LMMA Network. However, at the moment PLMMA does not have the required manpower to service a large number of sites. For now, PLMMA efforts inBohol are concentrated in Bingag and Tawala, which are partnered with local NGOs and other sectors that provide additional support. In the future, once some governance issues are resolved and addition human resources secured, PLMMA hopes to expand its work to other sites inBohol .

For now, the BMTP staff is working to institutionalize the Biodiversity, Monitoring and Evaluation (BIOME) initiative for marine protected areas in the municipality, which would further build the capacities of fisheries officers and coastal resource managers so that their MPA work can continue when the BMTP ends in 2006.

Issues

View of Tawala Marine Sanctuary. Photo by Toni Parras

The major issues in Tawala include commercial fishing within community waters, destruction of coral habitat for abalone extraction for souvenir markets, and use of poisonous substances such as cyanide for fishing. Anchor damage to corals from dive boats, presence of coral-eating Crown-of-Thorns Starfish, coral bleaching, and old blasting patterns have also been observed.

Pleasure-seekers coming ashore in Tawala.
                                                         Photo by Toni Parras

Resource depletion is a pressing concern. In times past, residents had enough fish and other marine resources in their own waters and did not have to go outside to fill their needs. Now, it is common for fishers to go to other barangays and even towns to find enough to subsist. Commercial fishers encroaching on community waters further exacerbates the problem.

While the enforcement team is committed to guarding the sanctuary, it is not a simple affair. The shoreline being quite craggy, there is no easy access from the cliff-top guardhouse to the water's edge. If a fish warden spots intruders in MPA waters, he must trek down a steep and rocky trail to the beach and paddle a small boat out to confront them; by then, the violators could easily be gone.

As it is, many boats pass through the sanctuary’s buffer zone, delineated by black buoys (the MPA itself is marked with white buoys). This is considered a problem because the community perceives that the noise created from boats disturb the marine organisms - especially the fishes - in the MPA. In addition, a typhoon swept away many of the white buoys marking the protected area. Storms also cause the 70 car tires that were placed inside the sanctuary as an artificial reef to move about and smash the already-distressed corals. Plans to place more tires in the sanctuary are in the works, although some feel it is not a good proposal. Some community workers hope that with the help of the BMTP and other organizations, the Tawala MPA management board will have access to more reliable sources of information on which to base decisions.

Progress

Hard corals in Tawala Marine Sanctuary. Photo by Silliman University Marine Laboratory

Silliman University Marine Laboratory (SUML) together with the BMTP carried out baseline data gathering and trained local residents in monitoring of seagrasses, seaweeds, invertebrates, corals and reef fishes within and around the sanctuary. BMTP’s BIOME initiative includes bi-annual monitoring of the MPA by trained local monitors. Continued monitoring is important to detect changes within the MPA and surrounding waters that may be a result of management actions. Presenting the information gathered from the initial monitoring enabled the MPA management team to convince the community to respect the protected area. Once heavily overfished and subject to dynamite and cyanide fishing, the sanctuary is now off-limits to fishing of any kind, as well as diving and snorkeling, to allow the greatest chance for habitat recovery.

Despite the commitment and efforts of the participating community members and partners involved with the monitoring, patrolling and enforcement within Tawala’s waters, threat reduction is still very low. Continued monitoring will help the management team learn what is happening within their waters, discuss potential reasons, and adapt their actions accordingly.

The lookout over Tawala MPA. Photo by Daisy Flores-Salgado

Although the commitment from Barangay Council, People’s Organization (PO), and partnering organizations is strong, more awareness and participation is needed among the community itself. Efforts and training to make residents aware of and able to apply their authority in managing their coastal resources are needed. Such c apacity building and training would help offset the absence of tertiary schools and prepare residents for future development in the area, particularly in the tourism sector. While snorkeling and diving is prohibited in the sanctuary itself, they are allowed in the buffer zone for a user fee. However, meaningful support from the diving community and the municipal government is needed. It is hoped that the Tawala MPA will not only increase fish catch, but also attract tourism and bring with it more income for the community.