Apo Island and Sumilon Island Marine Reserves and Beyond

As a response to the destruction of coral reef ecosystems, parts of the islands of Sumilon and Apo in Central Visayas were set up as No-Take Marine Reserves (NTMR) as a strategy of conservation for coral reef and associated marine systems by the Biology Department of Silliman University in 1974. Sumilon NTMR was managed by the University for 10 years (1974–1984) and Apo NTMR for 12 years (1982–1994). Beginning from 1983 to the present, Professor Garry R. Russ of James Cook University became Silliman’s collaborator. The two coral reef systems were monitored following the methodology in the Australia-ASEAN Project manual and the genetic parentage analysis. In our work on these two reserves, we obtained the cooperation local communities in the process of setting them up.  The results of the nearly annual monitoring of these two NTMRs showed that over the years the fish biomass in the NTMRs increased and fish yields of fishers likewise increased over the years. There was also evidence that there was spillover of large sized fish and fish larvae from the NTMRs to other marine areas outside the protected areas. This movement is due to ocean currents in the study areas. The results of our experiments have been published in scientific journals showing the effectiveness of the marine reserve strategy. We have influenced many people throughout the country to set up more marine reserves in addition to our work in other parts of the Visayas and northern Mindanao.

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