CASE STUDIES OF SOcIAL-EcOLOGIcAL RESILIENcE IN ISLAND SYSTEMS

USING A CROWN-OF-THORNS OUTBREAK AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH CONSERVATION

ROmBLON ISLAND, PHiLiPPiNES
Chito Dugan1 THE SETTING Romblon Island, located 12 32 N, 122 17 E, is the largest of three islands in Romblon Province, the Philippines. Romblon is at the center of the Philippine archipelago made up of 7,000 islands. Romblon It is isolated from the mainland. Bantangas is the Island main port and gateway to Romblon; the trip to Romblon takes approximately 12 hours by boat. The island is surrounded by the Romblon Passage, bounded by four municipalities: Romblon, San Augustin, Santa Maria, and Calatrava. Romblon is an island municipality with over 26 coastal barangays, or villages. Each barangay has its own based. While Romblon is the Map government. Data: marble capital of 2013 Google Romblon is mountainous, with marble and the Philippines, the limestone bedrock very little flat land exists market for marble products declined in the 1990s and is mainly on the coast. Settlement is mostly because of increased demand for granite. As a in these flatlands. The island is home to 36,600 result from the decline in demand for marble, the people. Migration to the islands is relatively low fishing industry increased significantly in the late and population is only slowly increasing. The 1990s. The fishing industry absorbed the labor people that can afford to do so send their children force from the marble industry thus contributing to urban centers for schooling and most do not to the overfishing problem, which was identified return to the province. The main employers on in 2000. the island are local governments and the schools. Destructive fishing practices threaten Romblons Romblons corals are part of the Sulu-Sulawesi coral reefs. Prior to 2005 when it was outlawed Marine Ecoregion, a region rich in biodiversity. in the Philippines, compressor fishing was a The Romblon passage connects major fishing common practice. Compressor fishing, also grounds of the islands with the Verde Island known as Pa-aling fishing in the Philippines, is Passage. Verdi passage is considered to be a the method of a surface-air-supplied diving. An air compressor supplies air through hoses (very global center of marine biodiversity. much like a garden hose) to divers who are There are two major industries on island one collecting fish at the bottom. Despite compressor is marble production and the other is fishing. fishings illegal status, some fishing communities The marble production is for a global market. continue to use this method in addition to Marble is mostly sold to the United States, the cyanide fishing. Other anthropogenic threats United Kingdom, and more recently, Japan. The to the coral reef systems surrounding Romblon fishing industry is local and mostly subsistence are the anchoring of boats and sedimentation. High sediment and silt deposition results from 1 Executive Director, Sentro para sa Ikauunlad ng Katutubong the many marble quarries on the island. While Agham at Teknolohiya (SIKAT Center for the Development of Indigenous Science and Technology) quarry operations practice waste management,

a lot of silt and sediment are still washed into surrounding waters.

Thorns sea stars are large sea stars (around 300 millimeters in diameter) that feed on live corals. Because Crown-of-Thorns sea stars have long, Municipalities have jurisdiction over the venomous spikes covering their 8-21 arms, adult waters that extend 15 kilometers offshore. No Crown-of-Thorns sea stars have few naturally commercial fishers are allowed within these occurring predators. Crown-of-Thorns sea star limits. In the Philippines a commercial fisher populations can experience periodic outbreaks, is a fisher that brings in more than three gross which can reduce coral cover by 90%. Loss of tons. There is a lot of competition between small- predators and decreased water quality are two scale fishers and municipal fishers. Grouper factors that have been found to contribute to (Serranidae spp.) is the targeted species. Crown-of-Thorns sea star outbreaks. The Philippines has a decentralized natural resource management policy. Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils (MFARMCs) are responsible for putting together policy and resource use plans at the municipal level. There are Fisheries and Aquatic Resource Management Councils at the village level as well, with whom MFARMC must work to implement natural resource management at the local level. Anything related to the use of municipal waters needs to be discussed first with the MFARMC. If you want support of the local government you need to, first, secure the support of the MFARMC. This makes it easier for the national, provincial, or municipal government to provide support to the efforts related to a local project; so it is critical to include the MFARMC. Also at the municipal level is the Bantay-dagat. The Bantaydagat are in charge of enforcement. Community organizations deal with enforcement for smallscale units, such as locally managed marine areas (LMMAs). THE DISTUrBANcE In 2004, SIKAT a non-government organization that organizes interdependent communities and organizations advocating community based natural resource management became aware of the possible threat of a Crown-of-Thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci) outbreak while conducting a community survey to profile the existing wants and needs of Romblons villages. In the following year, SIKAT conducted an annual underwater resource assessment of the benthic environment using a line-intersect sampling method. They observed large populations of Crown-of-Thorns sea stars. Native to the Indo-Pacific region, Crown-ofBetween 2005 and 2006, A. planci overpopulated the waters around Romblon Island and devastated Romblons healthy and diverse coral reef system. SIKAT believes it is likely that the Crown-of-Thorns outbreak originated in another province because of the high water quality surrounding Romblon due to strong currents that run through the area. An A. planci outbreak was never documented as a problem before 2005 and there was little local knowledge of the outbreak among the general community. THE RESPONSE In response to the confirmation of the Crown-ofThorns sea star outbreak, SIKAT, with the help of small local organizations, helped each village develop a community resource management plan that incorporated the collection of A. planci. At the start, SIKAT worked with five villages. It was important that the communities identified the problem themselves; thus SIKAT could work in supporting their response. SIKAT enabled the different local village governments to work together; SIKAT facilitated initial meetings and planning sessions and helped to identify a common agenda. Soon after, fourteen villages half of Romblons coastal villages - had a management plan in place. This united group collectively lobbied the municipal government to respond to the Crown-of-Thorns sea star outbreak and provide funding to enable a mass collection of the species. The effort came from the local village resource managers who were able to reach the provincial and national levels of government as well. In 2005, the Lan-Ag Challenge (Lan-ag is the local word for Crown-of-Thorns sea star) was launched.

One year of funding for this coastal management campaign came from the provincial government and SIKAT was able to secure additional funding from the National Economic and Development Authority, a national government agency. A major part of the Lan-Ag Challenge was the collection of Crown-of-Thorns sea star. The government agreed to pay each person two Philippine Pesos per Crown-of-Thorns sea star to encourage people to collect the species. SIKAT provided community outreach to teach communities not just how to collect Crown-ofThorns sea star but also about Crown-of-Thorns sea star and its ecological function. It was important for the community to understand that the collection aimed to normalize the Crownof-Thorns sea star populations so that the coral reef can recover; collection did not aim to totally eradicate the species.

20,000 A. planci were collected. This minimized the damage that the sea star caused to the reefs. Collection of A. planci stopped in 2009. RESULTS

SIKAT used the Crown-of-Thorns sea star outbreak as an opportunity to educate the community on the benefits of establishing marine protected areas. Aside from local resource managers, before the Lan-Ag Challenge, the general community was unaware of the Crown-of-Thorns sea star outbreak. Once SIKAT started their outreach and basic ecology training, more community members began to make connections between the Crownof-Thorns sea star outbreak and over fishing. They theorized that the outbreak was brought on by the loss of their natural predators. For instance, the overfishing led to the local extinction of the Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), a highly valued fish in the Philippines. Napoleon wrasse is a predator of the Crown-of-Thorns sea star. SIKAT trained local leaders to teach the  community how to properly collect Crown-of- LESSONS LEArNED AND REcOMMENDATIONS Thorns sea stars from the reef. The community Turn potential ecological threats into suggested the method that is the most effective teaching opportunities. The 2005 Crownand well-documented method used to collect of-Thorns sea star outbreak event gave A. planci. SIKAT provided long metal poles with SIKAT a foundation to educate the a cross toward the bottom and explained the communities about the importance of procedure: A. planci is stabbed with the metal LMMAs. It was an opportunity to explore pole, cross in front, at the center of its body. The the importance of resilience. collector must wait a few minutes until Crown Involve communities in the initial stages of of-Thorns sea star dies, then the sea star is pulled the project. Local communities need to be out. Waiting is very important because if the involved with identification of problems, Crown-of-Thorns sea star is removed before planning for them, and developing the tentacles fully detach from the body, it will management strategies. It is really regenerate. The time it takes to die depends on critical to engage community members, the size of the organism. Once it is dead, the sea and understand local knowledge and stars tentacles loosen their grip from the reefs local ideas. Always start a project with and the diver can pull out the central disc. community knowledge. If you want broad support from the community start with In some areas, communities were using local what community wants and what they resources like bamboo, which are less safe for know. the collector. SIKAT encouraged the use of metal poles with a cross at their base to prevent the sea Success of the project promotes itself. Communication on islands flow faster than star from slipping onto the collectors hand. The on the mainland. In the case of Romblon depth of A. planci varied therefore both SCUBA Islands Crown-of-Thorns sea star outbreak, divers and snorkelers were trained in A. planci SIKAT worked in only five communities. removal. SIKAT maintains partnerships with some News spread quickly of the success these of the dive shops, so they helped out when SCUBA villages had in putting together management was needed. Collection of A. planci was in both plans to incorporate the collection of the protected and unprotected areas. In 2006-2007,

Crown-of-Thorns sea stars. Other villages wanted to replicate this, and did. Success can be learned from one community to another and can influence other villages. Learn to talk to the local government by using their language. It is very difficult to talk about conservation to a government institution. SIKAT found that by using the context of income, the government became more responsive. For example, SIKAT explained that in protecting the community and their coral reefs, income from tourism would rise. Also, remember to adjust your language and explanations to fit different types or levels of government. Appeal to what they value; local government might have different agendas from the provincial government. Remember push your own agenda using their language.

FUNDING SUMMArY GEF Small Grants Programme

As told to Alexandra Donargo