going science-y

since i've been back in long beach it has ... rained, rained, rained. which, when my work is all outdoors and reliant on being able to get around by bike (and seriously these roads are dangerous when it rains since they become all mud and hardly navigable), means that i have been stuck inside. disappointing, since i was supposed to be diving this week at the sanctuary with gear rey (lives here in long beach, also hosts volunteers, works for SIKAT [a marine conservation organization] on romblon island) lent me. sigh.

then on saturday i got sick, complete with fever, which confined me to bed, trying not to panic about some weird tropical disease. but then at about noon sunday, almost exactly 24 hours after it hit, i felt much better. seems it was just some 24-hour flu thing, thank goodness. it is really hard to be sick here – my host family constantly coming in to check on me and waking me up, insisting that i take medicine or come eat more rice and fish. i know they mean well, but eesh, i just wanted to be left alone to sleep in peace (which, by the by, is impossible to come by around here thanks to all the roosters, barking dogs, televisions, screaming children, trikes/motorcycles with no mufflers, bad videoke music etc).

so since i have no exciting adventures or stories to relate, i decided i should probably write about the actual work to be done and situation here.

it is estimated that globally over 50% of fisheries are fully or over exploited. most people in the world, particularly those in developing countries, rely on the sea for food, and certainly for their source of protein. at the rate we are fishing the ocean, nearly all fish stocks are expected to crash within the next 50 years. this has huge potential consequences for most of the people throughout the world.

the situation is only complicated more by the competition that occurs between large commercial fishermen with their fancy technology and boats and the local fishermen trying to feed their families. there are laws, of course, regulating where and how much any fishermen can take, but these laws are very rarely enforced.

the pending crisis could mean starvation for most of the world's population.

ideally, what needs to be done is to set up laws regulating the size and number of fish caught and marine protected areas which allow stocks to recover where they cannot be fished. of course, how do you tell a starving fisherman that he cannot fish this or that species of fish, that any fish needs to be above a certain size, and that he cannot fish in this area? how do you tell someone to think in the long-term when he is trying to feed his family today?

this is a problem throughout the world and especially in countries like the philippines where most of the population lives below the poverty line, practically everyone lives on the coast, and all rely on the sea for food.

until recently, destructive fishing practices were nearly ubiquitous. the worst of these include dynamite fishing (i.e. lighting a stick of dynamite, throwing it into the reef, and blowing up everything in the vicinity) and cyanide fishing (literally putting cyanide into the water to stun the fish). the problem with these methods of fishing is that they kill everything in the area (not just the target fish) and they absolutely destroy the coral. the philippines is one of the biological "hotspots" of the world. it has some of the most beautiful and biologically diverse reefs in the world, and sadly, most of them are in terrible condition. of the 500 genera of coral, 488 of them exist in the philippines. something like 70% of the reefs in the philippines are considered "poor" quality or below. what is most important about this is that coral reefs provide the habitat for most of the target fish (either as adults or as juveniles); thus, no coral = no fish.

thankfully, for the most part, dynamite and cyanide fishing have ceased. but other non-discriminatory fishing methods are still being used and fish that are far too small are still being taken from the seas. if fishermen are taking juveniles, that means that no adults are out there, which means no spawning, no reproduction, and no new fish to allow for recovered stocks. i still haven't been able to figure out what laws actually exist here. i hear that the laws are quite good – it's just that the enforcement ... is lacking.

a marine sanctuary has been established – that's good. a critical start. now that it is there, the list of things that need to be done is unending. this includes a thorough survey of the species that exist there and what condition the reef is in. that way, comparisons can be made in future years to show any progress. if you cannot show people that there is progress, both in terms of number and diversity of fish and in the condition of coral, then people will start to lose respect for the sanctuary and not follow any regulations against fishing within its boundaries. education is critical: about why sanctuaries are good, about the care and upkeep and biology of coral, about fish in general, fisheries management, etc etc. some sort of community involvement needs to be established to guard the sanctuary and ensure that fishermen are not (in fact) fishing there and that rules – i.e. do not touch the coral, anchor in the sanctuary – are enforced. ay and that is only a beginning. a sanctuary does not fix the problem; it is a beginning, but must be used in coordination with fishing laws.

additionally, mangrove forests are (well, used to be) prevalent here. i don't know too much about mangroves, but they are interesting ecosystems. there are quite a few genera of mangroves, all distantly related; mangrove trees are one of only a few plants able to survive in salt water. the swamps they create are also absolutely essential to tropical areas. they act as a nursery and shelter for many many marine species, including sea turtles, fish, tons of inverts, etc. mangroves are also a natural border – they protect the shore from storms. they also filter out the finer sediment, preventing siltation on the coral reefs. most mangrove forests throughout the world have been cut down to allow for beaches for tourists, including here in the philippines. slowly though, their importance is being recognized and they are being restored. that's the other part of my project here – planting and monitoring mangroves. there is also a small nursery in long beach and at the sanctuary, so i just have to keep it up.

as far as the sanctuary goes, my plan is to do a thorough survey of it, create a list of species there, and to create a field guide of pictures and some brief facts about the species. i also hope to go out with fishermen during the day and talk to them about what species they are catching, how big they are now compared to what they used to be, etc. and hopefully get some educational seminars going at the sanctuary about why its a good thing and what else everyone can do. community involvement is so important in situations like these.

the frustration of my time here so far has mostly been a result of recognizing what needs to be done, but only being one person with very limited resources. there is no diving in san agustin, which means i must rely on rey and SIKAT for lending me gear. and ... scientific work needs other people – you cannot do it alone. i am hoping that people at the local government unit (LGU) will come through on this.

ok, hopefully that's a good enough science lesson for now :) please do comment if you have any questions or suggestions – this project means nothing if it does not, at the very least, raise awareness.