Anatomy of a
research program

Anatomy is the science dealing with structure of living organisms. In this article, it is used in a figurative sense to refer to the component elements of a research program on marine protected areas at Silliman University, that won the national award as best higher education institution research program in the Philippines for 2006.

Previous to this major award, this program had won several local, national and international citations and recognitions.

The program initially titled "Marine Reserves", now better referred to as "Marine Protected Areas" was started by myself as the first director of the then newly established Silliman Marine Laboratory in 1974.

The site of the first no-take marine reserve was Sumilon Island, a 23-hectare island surrounded by 50 hectares of coral reef off the southeastern tip of Cebu Island. Subsequently, in the early to mid-1980s, the Laboratory and the local communities established community-based no-take marine reserves on coral reefs surrounding three islands, namely, Apo (off Dauin, Oriental Negros), Balicasag Island and Pamilacan Island (the latter two off Bohol Island).

More marine reserves or marine protected areas were established in the Visayan Sea and the Bohol Sea on the initiative of the Laboratory/SUAKCREM and/or in collaboration with local governments, and people's and non-government organizations. At the latest count, there are more than 80 such community-LGU co-managed marine reserves in the Bohol Sea and adjacent marine waters. One of the important elements of the program is its vision for the coastal populations dependent on coastal and marine resources: sustainable and abundant food resources, primarily fisheries, from the sea. Its research, education, extension and development activities have been focused on this goal.

Because the ultimate program beneficiaries are people, their local governments and their organizations were active participants in the protection and management of the coastal and marine environment and resources. To a certain extent, they even participated in research activities. The program in this sense is truly community-based, involving social scientists and social workers in building viable social organizations in coastal communities.

It was designed for long-term implementation, considering the depleted status of the marine resources. This means protection and management for decades, not months or years.

The program also adopted from the beginning, a simple experimental design consisting of a no-take zone occupying 20-30 percent of the total coral reef area and a take (fishing) zone of 70-80 percent to allow degraded environments and depleted biodiversity to recover, and at the same time, allow fishers to continue to catch fish, some of which were generated within the no-take zone but spilled over to the fished zone. The spillover has benefited approximately 150,000 people living around the Bohol Sea. The improved coral reef biodiversity in MPAs has improved tourism, increasing incomes of coastal communities in the Central Visayas.

In Oriental Negros alone, the income from tourism is estimated at US$700,000 a year.

The program included regular, standard monitoring procedures to track the progress of the build-up of biodiversity and fishery species inside no-take zones and outside (as controls) over time. Data were analyzed and published mostly in peer-reviewed journals and books. It has produced some 50 published papers in 32 years and has contributed more than 10 percent of the 300 articles on MPAs in peer-reviewed journals as of 2006. This has vastly improved the knowledge on the dynamics of top carnivorous fish species under severe exploitation pressure. The findings of research and monitoring have been fed backed to communities and LGUs, which used them for planning their own coastal/marine resource management projects.

Our research findings have also been utilized in the formulation of fishery management policies in the Fishery Code (R.A. 8550) and in municipal ordinances governing municipal marine protected areas. The Fishery Code and the ordinances have provided management and environmental protection policies for some 350 marine reserves in the country. The program has also provided teaching materials for degree programs in coastal management and marine biology at Silliman.

It provided for participation of graduate students. A number of them have completed or will complete their master's or doctor's degrees based on studies on the effects of MPAs. Thus, the program has helped educate scientists and practitioners in marine biology and coastal and marine management to assist in development projects of the country.*