3 Governors Ask Pres. Aquino, Congress to Declare Visayan Sea Exclusive for Small Fishers

Three Visayas provinces have signed a resolution requesting Congress and President Benigno C. Aquino III to declare the one-million hectare Visayan Sea a marine reserve exclusive only for small fishers.

“Foreseeing that the only way to safeguard that state policies are met, there is a need to widen the conservation area for the Visayan Sea which in turn will also widen the breading area of the diverse marine life of the Visayan,” read a portion of the two-page resolution.

But only Negros Occidental Governor Alfredo Marañon, who was said to have started the rehabilitation of the Visayan Sea more than 20 years ago, personally signed the resolution.

Governors Hilario Davide III of Cebu and Arthur Defensor Sr. of Iloilo sent their representatives.

Masbate Acting Governor Vicente Revil had no representative to sign on his behalf.

Cebu, Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Masbate share jurisdiction of the Visayan Sea, which is known for being the richest and the biggest in marine resources in the whole country, as exclusive economic zone.

Environmentalist and lawyer Antonio Oposa of the Visayan Sea Squadron said the Visayan Sea became a victim of many forms of illegal fishing such as dynamite fishing and “kuskos” or cyanide fishing, among others.

Marañon, who was mayor of Sagay, Negros Occiental then, and a few others, including Oposa, formed a small group to protect the Visayan Sea marine environment from deterioration.

Oposa said their campaign against illegal fishing caused the death of some of their members like Elpidio “Jojo”dela Victoria, a “Bantay Dagat” official of Cebu City who was murdered in 2006 due to his incessant drive against illegal fishing.

If the whole Visayan Sea will be declared a marine reserve, Oposa said it would only be the small fishers who can enjoy its bounty, thereby ensuring a non-stop stock of fishes for the whole country. (PNA) LAP/EB/EDS