WWF Cover photo - Soufriere Marine Management Association ...

In 1980 new mayors were elected in Oslob, and in Santander, another major community fishing around Sumilon.Part of their election campaigns was to open the Sumilon Reserve and shortly afterwards there were a number ofserious cases of illegal drive net fishing in the reserve. In response, Silliman University appealed to the nationalgovernment and Sumilon Reserve was declared a national fish sanctuary. This moved responsibility for thereserve from the local community to the national Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) and causedwidespread local resentment. Intermittent illegal fishing continued from 1980 to 1984. In 1984 regular fishingbegan in the area and the caretaker was removed for his own safety. Fishing included damaging methods such asdrive net fishing and dynamite fishing and persisted until the end of 1985. The Mayors then decided that theyshould comply with the national BFAR order (probably because there were plans for tourism development onSumilon) and fishing stopped in the reserve in 1987 (Russ and Alcala 1999).Mean density of predatory fish2018161412108642082 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94YearFigure 3: Mean density of predatory fish (groupers, snappers andemperors) in number per 1000m 2 (+/- 1SE) in the Sumilon reserve from1983 to 1993, estimated by visual census. Redrawn from Russ andAlcala (1999).In 1988 the Oslob Municipal Council banned all fishing on the whole reef of Sumilon. The area was protectedfor 4 years until 1992 when the resort on the island was completed. Once the resort was operational fishing waspermitted in non-reserve reef areas, but with no enforcement or surveillance the whole area was soon fished onceagain. In 1994 a renewed attempt to protect the area was made and by 1997 a caretaker was once again in placeto enforce regulations. However, this new caretaker tolerated some illegal trap fishing and allowed hook and linefishing in the reserve. By 1997 the tourist resort had become disused – tourism had not brought the income to thearea that had been anticipated. The use of hook and line and trap fishing in the reserve has persisted to 2001(Alcala, submitted). Figure 3 shows how densities of large predatory reef fish in the Sumilon reserve havefluctuated in response to the changing management regime (from Russ and Alcala 1999). Trap yields have alsovaried over the years (Alcala, submitted).Sumilon is an example of how things can go wrong with marine reserves. Politics and conflicts between localand national management approaches led to failure. Community involvement was not gained fully at the outsetand there was misunderstanding of the motives of the University. Expectations of the fishery benefits of themarine reserves amongst fishers may also have been unrealistically high. However, Sumilon provides a veryvaluable demonstration, replicated over time, of the rapidity of stock and fishery response to reserve protection,and of the speed with which gains can be eliminated when fishing is renewed.39