03/03/2006 - Donsol, the
Philippines – A one-year study conducted
by WWF shows that 32.5 per cent of commercially-important
fish species are being overfished, threatening
the livelihood of thousands of fishermen
and an important whale shark population.
Swimming with whale sharks is contributing
to the economy of the Philippines. According
to government statistics, some 7,000 tourists
travelled to Donsol, some 500km southeast
of the capital, Manila, in 2005 to visit
the “gentle giants”, earning some PHP35
million (or US$623,000).
“The fish catch rate is too high that the
potential for fish stock to replenish itself
over time is getting more difficult,” said
Ruel Pine, head of the WWF Community-Based
Ecotourism and Coastal Resource Management
Project in Donsol.
The municipal fisheries sector yields an
annual harvest of 1,350 metric tons, which
includes scads, sardines, mackerel, tuna
and other fish. The intrusion of commercial
fishers in municipal waters puts the total
fish catch per year at around 12,000 metric
tons.
“Municipal fishing is now geared towards
a condition of economic overfishing,” Pine
added. “This means that additional investment
to fishing operations doesn’t yield additional
fish catch or income to local fishermen.”
WWF is also working with local fishing
communities on a fisheries management plan
which will address such marine issues as
illegal fishing and the exploitation of
fishery resources — issues that could effect
the whale shark's habitat and overall future
in Donsol’s waters.
“The management plan and the ordinance
will set in-place mechanisms that will promote
pro-active protection and exploitation of
its coastal resources,” said Pine. “Law
enforcement is central to this plan.”
END NOTES:
• The whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is
the world’s largest living fish, measuring
up to 14m and weighing in at 125 tons. Despite
its name and enormous size, the whale shark
is not a whale, but classified in a family
of its own — Rhincodontidae — with its closest
relatives being leopard sharks and nurse
sharks.
• The waters around Donsol are part of
the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas ecoregion, one of
WWF's Global 200 ecoregions — a science-based
global ranking of the world's most biologically
outstanding habitats and the regions on
which WWF concentrates its efforts.
