Community fishery resources management in Malalison Island, Philippines

Abstract

The Community Fishery Resources Management Project, launched in 1991 in Malalison Island, Philippines is a development-oriented research project integrating biology, economics, sociology, engineering, and public administration. The general objective is to support, and learn from, the collaboration of people's organization, biologists, and social scientists in applying community-based techniques in fishery management. During Phase I, the Project concentrated on community organizing, institution building, and the introduction of seaweed farming as alternative livelihood. Studies were made on the marine resources of the island, the traditional boundaries and territorial use rights, the economic utilization of resources in the island, and the cultivation techniques for seaweeds. Phase II started in 1994 with the implementation of the territorial use rights in fisheries and the test deployment of prototype concrete artificial reefs. Phase II includes impact assessment (environmental, social, and economic), institutional arrangements in fishery co-management, ethnographic studies, economics of Seafarming techniques, and management of fishery cooperatives.