Distinctive silhouettes
of red-toothed trigger-
fish hover above a river
of juvenile convict
blennies flowing over
a coral reef in the
Verde Island Passage.
Despite overfishing
and pollution, this area
of the Philippines still
retains tremendous
biodiversity.
every Filipino, that it is up to us to take care of
the ocean because we get almost everything we
need from the ocean. If we don’t do that, the
time will come when we will have no more fish
to catch, and we will only see fish in books and
on the internet, not in the ocean.”
Tourism helps alleviate pressure on dwindling
fish stocks, but not every place can be a dive hot
spot. Another way of relieving the demand on
reef ecosystems is for fishers to take up alter-
native livelihoods such as marine farming. At a
remote atoll in the Sulu Sea I met families living
on bamboo platforms in reef lagoons, drying sea-
weed. The algae they farm produce carrageenan,
a polysaccharide used as a stabilizer in medi-
cines, toothpaste, pill capsules, cosmetics, andI winced as small jellyfish and broken arms of
sea anemones fell from the trap and stung my
skin. And I winced for the dashed expectations
of the men and their families. Bubu fishers may
earn as little as a dollar per trap per week. Their
households are typically on the poverty line
or below it, as is 60 percent of the country’s
coastal population.
Like Dauin’s mayor, Pasco has been threat-
ened over his efforts to expand MPAs and deter
poaching. To guard his property, he keeps a
watchdog and sleeps in a hut outside his house.
“I’m afraid for my security and my family’s
security, but I’m still doing my job,” he tells me.
There is no other option, he says. “We have
to give an honest and profound education for
94 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC