Jennifer C. Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY,
Sept. 28 (PIA) – Oceana Philippines launched recently its campaign to preserve
and protect the marine-rich Tañon Strait between the islands of Negros and Cebu
with a five-day road show photo exhibit at Robinsons Dumaguete.
Communication associate Candeze
Mongaya of Oceana Philippines said the road show exhibit aims to create
awareness on the Tañon Strait to boost protection of its vast marine
resources.
Tañon Strait Protected Seascape is
the largest marine protected area in the Philippines.
The seascape has an area of 5, 182
km, more than three times on the area of the Tubataha National Park. It is
extremely narrow (27 km), long (160 km) and deep (500m).
"Tañon Strait is surrounded by
42 cities and municipalities with almost 30,000 municipal fisherfolks living in
Tañon who are dependent on the fishes there,” said Mongaya.
“At least in our own little way we
want to stop illegal fishers and commercial fishing,” Mongaya said.
The group also has simultaneous
multi-stakeholders forum within the municipalities where they invite
representatives from the fishery sector or the fisher folks.
Oceana also invited speakers from
the municipalities, academe, and private citizens to discuss about the rules
and regulations on fisheries and issues regarding Tañon Strait.
Some of their activities include
Kapihan sa Isla, a monthly media forum, and they are also coming up
with a photo book in October.
The five-year campaign for
Tañon Strait started last year.
“Residents or the communities who
live in Tañon should be aware of what their treasures are and most importantly,
they should be active and more concerned in protecting Tañon Strait not just
for the future generations but also for them in the present,” said Mongoya.
Oceana urged the residents to
care for, protect, and watch over the Tañon Strait where they get
their main source of food.
Oceana is an advocacy international
NGO focused on ocean conservation and its primary target countries are the
major fishing areas in the world.
In this campaign, Oceana is
partnering with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
in Central Visayas and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
(rmn/jct/PIA7-Negros Oriental with reports from Winona Jane Agir, SU intern)
- See more at:
http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/1111443423654/oceana-campaigns-for-ta-on-strait-preservation#sthash.3nvE501L.dpuf