RARE Conservation,Inc. Offers Scholarship To Provincial Employee On Biodiversity Conservation

RARE Conservation, Inc. Offers Scholarship To Provincial Employee On Biodiversity Conservation

By Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.

Maasin City, Southern Leyte-RARE Conservation, Inc., a US-based non-government organization has offered scholarship to a provincial employee, Armando O. Gaviola to study biodiversity conservation at Georgetown University in Arlington, Washington, DC.

This was learned during the recent session held at the newly-finished Legislative Building’s session hall at the provincial capitol here.

The NGO has put up a budget allocation of $176,566.00 for the two-year program which is piloted in the municipality of Hinunangan.This is under the consent of the local leadership for the future benefit of its fisherfolks.

However, 2% of the aforesaid amount which is $4,347.82 or approximately P200, 000.00 Philippine currencies will be the counterpart of the provincial government. This is particularly taken from the EIC program of the Provincial Environment and Natural resources Management Office (PENRMO) budget during the implementation of the program.

Gaviola during his presence at the weekly session informed the august body that the program will cover for two years. For the first two months, he will be having a comprehensive training in Georgetown University. He will be back to the province in ten months working closely with the municipality of Hinunangan.

For another two months in Georgetown, he will be going back again for 10 months for similar purpose. This is actually his “practicum” to implement what he has learned at the US University.

The last two months in Washington, the US scholar further said, shall be the finalization of the master plan for reasonable fishing in Southern Leyte and his graduation ceremony.

Gaviola also clarified to the Provincial Board Members that his US studies would be shouldered by RARE Conservation and that he will not be claiming any travel or per diem as an employee of the provincial government, in answer to SP Florentino Fernandez’s inquiry.

He likewise informed that the project that is piloted in Hinunangan, which will be focused in the islands of San Pedro and San Pablo, shall be replicated in the 18 municipalities and one city during its actual implementations.

Asked again by Fernandez on Hinunangan’s responsibility as a host of the project, he said that Hinunangan’s counterpart as of the moment is “to lay down a master plan” and that by 2012 the municipality might take part in the financial aspect.”To date, it’s more on the technical side that is on information education drive in agriculture and fishery”, he said.

Again asked further by another SP Roberto Lagumbay why the project is to be focused in Hinunangan,he revealed that there’s an ongoing minor illegal fishing and the current threat of the exploration of mining in the municipalities of Silago,Hinunangan and Hinundayan.He did not however divulged the name of the firm conducting the mining exploration.

Furthermore, he claimed there’s now a strong opposition from the local leadership of the place. He said that an association of fisherfolks, the MFARMCs is in the process of the petition addressed to the LGU to take action against the mining exploration.

Prohibition of Small Holes Fishing Nets

At the time the entire fisherfolks from 18 municipalities and one city of the province would learned from Gaviola’s knowledge on biodiversity conservation in fishery and agriculture, concerned fish consumers provincewide are expecting that they would stopped seeing small fishes being sold at the public markets by fish vendors in some areas of Southern Leyte.

The principal reason for its premature presence inside the “banyeras”(huge tin deep basins where various small fishes aside from big fishes for sale were stored) is because some fishermen, if not the majority, were using very small holes fishing nets instead of big holes, which would allow entrapped small fishes to escape inside the fishing nets.

The whole fishery sector in the province should be strictly instructed by fishery officials in every LGU to avoid using fishing nets with small holes but fishing nets with big holes only. This is in order that small fishes like mangko, bangsi, salinyasi and other small fishes being caught on nets can escape out and can allow themselves to grow into matured fishes for man’s consumption later on.

On the part of all the fishermen everywhere in the country, it is their obligation to follow and cooperate with fishery laws since the laws are promulgated for the good benefit of both the fishermen and the consumers.

Concerned people have observed that there’s a huge depletion of our marine resources due to dynamite and overfishing of immature fishes in our seas. Plus the unabated breached of our fishery laws on biodiversity conservation on sea products by some of our uncooperative fishermen. We hope that when Gaviola will be imparting his knowledge he learned from his US studies, our fishermen and farmers in the whole province will start learning to follow and cooperate with the laws on fishery and agricultural conservation.

As of presstime, Gaviola is currently in the US University acquiring some technical knowledge from experts in the field of fishing and agriculture.(Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)