| | Dolphins,
join welcome
reception for 28 foreign
students off Talibon islet
By JUNE S. BLANCO
DOLPHINS
LAZING IN THE SUN. Just passing by Bohol as seen by 28 foreign students who
are here for the voyagr to the future held in Jayveeh Beach Resort in Mahaba Island
of Talibon town. Foto: RAYMUND BUSLON | | A
School of dolphins and Gov. Erico Aumentado welcomed 28 teenagers from seven countries
to the Bohol leg of the Voyage to the Future - an educational project of the Asia-Pacific
Broadcasting Union (ABU).
The
around 50 dolphins had met Aumentado's party on the way to the Jayveeh Resort
in Mahaba Island off Talibon town in the inner fringes of the Danajon Double Barrier
Reef |
(DDBR)
- the only such formation in Indochina, and of the very few documented worldwide
including Australia's Great Barrier Reef and another in Nova Scotia. The
languid seawaters that morning paved the way for the dolphins to display their
antics as they wowed Aumentado's party. Host Mayor Juanario Item was on board
another pumpboat and was at sea before the governor arrived, monitoring the movement
of the sea creatures to ensure that they were not harmed. The Voyager kids were
on board still another pumpboat.
This
prompted the governor to call Mayors Niño Rey Boniel of Bien Unido, Theresa
Camacho of Getafe, Judith del Rosario-Cajes of Trinidad, Eutiquio Bernales of
Ubay and Tesalonica Boyboy of the island town of President Garcia to similarly
monitor the dolphins and ensure their safety.
He
said the dolphins were "just visiting" this time of the year. He traced
their most probable route as entering the country from the North Pacific through
the channel between Sorsogon and Samar, down Tañon Strait between Oriental
Negros and Cebu, up northern Bohol where they frolicked for a while, down Bohol's
southern coast between Pamilacan Island and the mainland, on to the Mindanao Sea
and exit to the South Pacific through the Surigao Channel.
| | | Bais
and Dumaguete cities in Oriental Negros and Baclayon, Bohol have noted this route
of the dolphins and whales and have included watching these sea creatures frolic
among their tourist come-ons.
In
fact, Aumentado said, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark managed to rub the
snout of a dolphin on her way to Pamilacan in March 2006 the day after her summit
with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Bohol Beach Club. New Zealand has
poured financial and technical assistance to fishermen who used to catch whales,
whale sharks and dolphins for food and for sale. | Today,
these fishermen still search the seas for the creatures, but this time to monitor
their movements to ensure their safety and show them to tourists.
True
to Aumentado's observation, Item reported the following day that the dolphins
could no longer be found. He admitted that it was the first time he saw dolphins
in Talibon in all of his 64 years.
THE
'VOYAGERS'
Coming
from Qatar, Mongolia, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, the
children were shepherded by ABU Program Department Head Tatsuyo Nakamura and staff,
Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvest (FISH) Project Head Rebecca Pestaño-Smith,
National Broadcasting Network (NBN) Special Project Head Bobby Arias and support
staff.
VOYAGE
TO THE FUTURE 2009 PARTICIPANTS. Delegates
from seven countries pose for
posterity with, middle row, from left, Rebecca Pestaño-Smith of the FISH
Project, Talibon Mayor Juanario Item and Bohol Gov. Erico Aumentado after the
opening ceremonies at the Tacubo Hall of the Jayveeh Beach Resort in Mahaba Island
off Talibon, Bohol. Foto: RAYMUND BUSLON | | The
project aims to promote awareness among the teenagers in the future global environment,
let them learn to appreciate, conserve and rehabilitate different environments,
learn the ways of life of people in their host communities, and above all, promote
protection, conservation and rehabilitation to their peers back home.
This
year's edition of the bi-annual voyage had the theme "Preserving the Ocean
Environment". Before Bohol, the teenagers also "voyaged" to Puerto
Galera in Oriental |
Mindoro.
After Bohol, the next stop was Apo Island off Dauin in Oriental Negros. NBN,
the only TV station in the Philippines that is a member of ABU, documented the
children's 11-day visit ending this Tuesday, four of which were spent at the DDBR.
ABU
chose the Philippines as the destination of the third Voyage to the Future to
offer to the youth learners "the experience of how local people tried to
keep the ocean and the natural environment cleaner and to recover nature as it
used to be" Nakamura described the activity.
For
her part, Smith said the DDBR is the lifeblood of the fisheries ecosystem in Central
Visayas. It has the biggest man-made mangrove forest in the entire Asia and has
the healthy biodiversity which over-fishing can undoubtedly easily kill.
Aumentado
always waxes nostalgic when talking of the reef. As a boy orphaned by his father
at the tender age of eight years, he joined a "new look" crew to help
his mother raise his siblings. "New look" is a passive fishing method.
The
DDBR used to be rich fishing grounds. He said the fish they used to catch were
palm-sized. The same kind he sees in the wet market now, however, are only three
fingers wide - apparently "mere survivors" of blast, trawl and cyanide
fishing.
He
lauded the Voyage, saying it is a way of underscoring the importance of sustaining
the reef. After all, he said, together with agriculture, eco-tourism is one of
the economic drivers of the province.
He
thanked FISH and other institutions like the World Bank and even the national
government for undertaking rehabilitation, preservation and conservation projects
in the reef. He also reminds local officials to ensure that livelihood projects
in the reef like seaweeds farming are sustainable.
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