of the Verde Island Passage, Philippines - weADAPT

climate change vulnerability assessment of the verde island passage, philippines
Like tuna, small pelagics are observed to favor deeper,
cooler waters during periods of drought or El Niño.
In such cases, the movement of these fish to deeper
waters may assist commercial fishing gears such
as ringnets and Danish seines. In nearshore waters,
competition among municipal fishers will intensify
unless gear adaptation occurs.
v. Demersals
Total production of demersal fish (represented by
threadfin bream, squid and slipmouths) has an annual
average of 6,000 MT for Verde Island Passage. In
percentage terms, it is similar to tuna which contributes
somewhere between 10 and 15% of total production.
In value terms, the demersal fishery has the highest
value contribution at more than P400 million pesos, on
average, compared to P372 million for small pelagics,
and an even smaller value for tuna at P142 million
a year. This can be explained by the higher prices
obtained for demersal species.
It should be emphasized, however, that these estimates
are based on available data from BAS and that BAS
limits itself to the collection of statistics for the first 30
most important commercial species.
Demersal species are closely linked to habitat
conditions, and more specifically to coral reefs. Climate
change impacts may result in population declines
due to loss of settlement habitat and erosion of
habitat structural complexity, while increased ocean
temperature will affect the physiological performance
and behavior of coral reef fishes and cause shifts in
recruitment patterns and reproduction. In extreme
cases, we may see the extinction of small-range
species.
vi. Coastal aquaculture (seaweeds and fishponds)
Production estimates for coastal aquaculture comprise
about 3, 000 tons from brackish water fishponds
and another 2, 000 MT from seaweeds. While not
significant based on volume of production, seaweeds
provide livelihoods to wives of fishers and other
community members. Requiring relatively little capital
and with huge returns, seaweed aquaculture is touted
as a “poverty alleviation” tool by government.
In Calatagan, Batangas, Tambuyog (2005) analyzes the
growth of, and issues related to, the seaweed industry.
Seaweed farming was introduced in Calatagan in 1971
from Zamboanga. At time of writing, there were around
1, 200 seaweed cultivators dispersed over five of the
19 coastal barangays, mainly concentrated in three
barangays: Barangay Uno, Dos, and Balitoc, but also in
Barangay Gulod and Barangay Carretunan. The current
numbers of seaweed farmers could not be confirmed,
but reports indicate that the practice still exists.
The monthly income from seaweed farming would
normally range from P8, 167 to P14, 672 assuming
that there were no typhoons or disease outbreaks to
adversely affect production. These figures are higher
than the income from fishing, but as already mentioned,
the cost of labor is not fully included as seaweed
production is mainly a family enterprise. However, given
that at least three production cycles can be completed
in one year, seaweed farming appears to be highly
profitable.
Seaweeds may be impacted by climate change due
to increasing sea surface temperatures and declining
water quality levels. Based on the observation by
Monzales, seaweeds farmed using bottomset methods
suffered almost unilaterally compared to those using
a floating system. Likewise, water quality and the
absence of pollutants provide an ideal environment for
seaweeds.
Data obtained from the Calapan City Coastal
Environmental Profile indicate that brackish water
fishponds for bangus cover about one thousand
hectares with annual production of 2,000 MT (2005
statistics). With a productivity of about 2 tons ha-1, the
estimated income per hectare of bangus fishpond is
P200, 000 per hectare.
Tourism
Tourism in Verde Island Passage has traditionally been
limited to a few areas and activities within the entire
passage. Recreational activities are focused mainly on
the area’s natural attributes, many of which are marinebased.
Increasing importance of tourism is the recent
trend that climate change may most affect.
There is no comprehensive profile for the tourism
sector that covers all areas within the Verde Island
Passage. What is presented in this study are initial data
sets on the tourism profile of the Passage from three
sources, i.e., a) a start-up passage-wide profile from
a workshop covering Lian, Mabini, Tingloy, Calatagan,
San Teodoro, Bauan, Calapan and Puerto Galera—all
tourism destination sites; b) information from a prior
study confined to the Batangas side and with a detailed
profile provided for only one municipality, Mabini (where
scuba diving activities are concentrated); and c)
supplemental focused primary research, also in Mabini,
to generate updated information on the economic
engagement of local communities.
This effort demonstrates how opportunistic data
accessed from agencies and representative sites or
case studies can be an appropriate approach when
initiating a vulnerability assessment. The choice of focus
area for the Verde Island Passage is only intended
to show how profiles in general can be used as an
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