Municipality of Amlan MPA Management Strategic Plan ... - RarePlanet

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Rationale of the Plan
Amlan is a 4th class municipality situated on the Eastern Coast of Negros Island, Central
Visayas, Philippines. It lies 21 kilometers North of Dumaguete City, the Provincial Capital of
Negros Oriental. It is bounded in the East by Tañon Strait. Amlan has a population of 22,206
(NSO 2010 Census) distributed in the eight (8) barangays which comprised the whole
municipality. Of these 8 barangays, five are coastal that shared a 7- kilometer stretch of
coastline. There are two marine protected areas located in Barangay Tandayag and
Barangay Bio-os.
Overfishing is the main problem in the area. This is due to intrusion of commercial fishers in
the municipal waters which resulted to declining fish catch and affecting 431 fishermen
who are mainly dependent on coastal resources. Coupled with other issues such as
increasing population, degradation of coastal habitats, and destructive and illegal fishing
practices, the production from fisheries dramatically declined making food and the
livelihood of the fishers a major concern.
The Municipality of Amlan, just like the other coastal LGUs in the Philippines, has been
undertaking several efforts to protect and to restore its coastal and fisheries resources. It
has adopted a five – year coastal resource management (CRM) plan which will be
updated this year 2012. This plan was prepared with the participation of coastal
communities and other stakeholders and through the support of the provincial government
and the Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental
Management (SUAKCREM). The MPA management strategies were integrated in this CRM
plan.
MPA management has been evolving until it has achieved the community buy- in and
voluntary compliance to the MPA rules and regulations that this Pride campaign has been
advocating. Pride campaign was successfully implemented through the partnership of the
Local Government Unit of Amlan thru its Municipal Environment and Natural Resources
Office (MENRO), the Environment and Natural Resources Division-Office of the Governor of
Negros Oriental and Rare, Inc. – a non-government organization specialized in social
marketing through Pride. Pride Campaign is the implementation of both the Social
Marketing (Knowledge, Attitude and Interpersonal Communication) and Barrier Removal
strategies (Strengthening enforcement and governance) towards achieving community
buy-in that lead to biodiversity conservation, taking into account the rich experience and
best practices of MPA/CRM implementation in the Philippines.
Along with this achievement is a challenge particularly in sustaining the efforts and the
current positive behaviors of the fishers and communities.
MPA Management Strateic Plan of Amlan |2013-2015 6