Monday, May 16, 2016

BCRMTF spearheads Ocean Month events


TAGBILARAN CITY, May 13 (PIA)--An inter-agency multi-disciplinary task force spearheads the celebration of May as Ocean Month and serves a array of menu to make food security in Bohol sustainable through keeping Bohol's biodiversity. 

For May as Month of the Ocean, the cooperation of inter-agencies in Bohol Coastal Resource Management Task Force (BCRMTF) fits individual agency and collegial activity to Biodiversity for Food SeaCUREity as the month's theme, says coastal resource management coordinator at the Bohol Environment Management Office (BEMO) Adelfa Salutan. 

Comprised of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Police, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), Department of Education (DepED), Philippine Information Agency and the BEMO, BCRMTF thinks active and proactive measures need to be done to keep Bohol's marine biodiversity sustainable. 
Also with the BCRMTF are United States Agency for International Development project called Ecosystems Improved for Sustainable Fisheries (ECOFISH), First Consolidated Bank of Bohol Foundation Inc., (FCBFI), and other NGOs whose interests are with coastal resource management and law enforcement. 

With trash posing the most imminent danger to the coastal resources and marine environment, BCRMTF teams did a monitoring and evaluation of solid waste management programs for the towns of Ubay, Sevilla and Trinidad last May 3-5, reports BEMO's Salutan. 

This upcoming May 16-17, the operational team for the Alburqueque Cluster Sanitary Landfill, through the Provincial Government and BEMO would sit for a training on the landfill management.

DENR, through PENRO Nestor Canda explained that improper solid waste management and a failed program would ultimately bring all the trash to the sea and threaten marine biodiversity. 

The improper disposal of non biodegradables like plastic and fishing nets have been tagged as among the major causes of deaths among marine creatures and the upsetting of the marine ecosystem.

In the advent of local government honing their coastal land use plans, BCRMTF sees the necessity of an Integrated Coastal Resources Management Planning pops, and to that, a workshop happened May 12-15, Salutan continued. 

"Putting up the proper plans, especially in the assistance to Marine Protected Areas (fish sanctuaries) is important because we need to let them see the ecological relationship of the project to the site, especially those with less than a couple of hectares," fisheries coordinator Anecita Gulayan of ECOFish said. 

Some MPAs are established but these are near river deltas, or near navigation channels which is ideal. The size and the location must really be integrated with the over-all design for maximum productivity, she added.

An upcoming Marine Protected Areas (MPA) technical working group happens May 17 in the morning while the award winning Coastal Law Enforcement Council (CLEC) Technical Working Groups also meets in the afternoon at Reynas Garden and Haven, BCRMTF program of activities for the month showed. 

BCRMTF member PCG also coordinated a mangrove planting activity in Poblacion 2 earlier last week, Salutan said. The effort is in line with reclaiming much of the damaged coastlines of Tagbilaran City as well as to protect the coasts from surges and increase biodiversity, said PCG chief Benjie Quinisio. 

Last March 2 also, Cebu and Bohl held a simultaneous kick off programs for local fisherfolks, reports BFAR. 

On Monday, the BCRMTF puts up a motorcade, IEC and program to launch the Ocean Month, members said. (rac/PIA-7/Bohol)

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