TropicalCoast 4th new indd

50

July 2008

the plan focuses on conducting and 

expanding studies on marine turtles 

and their habitats, strengthening 

collaborative research and monitoring 

eff orts, and information exchange 

mechanisms.

Fourthly, many of the SSS’s coastal 

communities remain unaware of 

the dire condition of many turtle 

populations, with little knowledge 

of nesting patterns or maturation 

periods, natural survival, and the 

impacts of mankind’s actions. Turtle 

conservation issues are generally 

not widely publicized to those who 

impact them the most — remote 

coastal communities, tourism 

markets, commercial enterprises 

and government policy makers. 

Thus community participation 

in conservation schemes, public 

awareness and information exchange 

are key issues to be dealt with. The plan 

addresses the need for information 

exchange, community participation 

and education through fi ve themes 

comprising 28 focus areas. These focus 

on expanding and implementing public 

education, awareness and information 

programmes, promoting general public 

participation, expanding government 

involvement and promoting shared 

responsibilities, integrating community 

development with environmental 

education, and establishing 

mechanisms to continually evaluate 

community practices as they impact 

marine turtles and their habitats.

There is also a critical need to address 

capacity for conservation, research 

and management within the SSS, 

which the Plan addresses through 

two key themes (training and capacity 

building, and provision of resources) 

which cover ten action items, and to 

integrate turtle management across 

government managerial levels and 

internationally. There exists a clear 

interconnectivity among habitats on 

which marine turtles depend and which 

confl ict with a number of other sectors, 

including fi shing, tourism, shipping 

and housing and defence. However, 

this interconnectivity among marine 

ecosystems and their inhabitants, which 

are also ecosystems and species upon 

which humans depend, are poorly or 

not at all understood. For instance, 

nesting and foraging habitats need to be 

considered in coastal planning but often 

commerce and tourism predominate 

in decision-making, to the detriment of 

wild fl ora and fauna. The Plan addresses 

integration of conservation eff orts 

through four themes comprising 16 

action focus areas. The four key themes 

within this context are cooperation and 

promotion of information exchange, 

enforcement and legislation, use of data 

in management, and implementation of 

international legal instruments.

Finally, the issue of required funding 

is addressed while taking into 

consideration the need to secure 

funds for turtle conservation and 

leverage existing resources to provide 

incremental value to conservation 

eff orts, and developing concrete 

conservation outputs and timeframes. 

Many conservation eff orts in the SSS 

still struggle to clearly articulate their 

conservation goals and targets, even 

though they are direct interventions 

promoting turtle conservation. 

The Plan has obviously benefi ted 

from many past initiatives, and brings 

these together cohesively as a way 

forward for truly regional approaches to 

conservation, building on the strengths 

of ‘good’ initiatives and learning from 

the defi ciencies of ‘poor’ ones. It is hard 

to designate a conservation initiative as 

‘poor’ if it is doing something positive for 

the environment — but there are always 

areas for improvement.

What is required now is the formal 

adoption of the marine turtle RAP by 

the member countries, and the gradual 

implementation of its contents. Only 

then will the people rap along with the 

turtles. 

Jüergen Freund

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51

Tropical Coasts

Cyanide fi shing is among the illegal activities reported in 

the Verde Island Passage, Cagayan Ridge and the 

Tri-National Sea Turtle Corridor. 

(

Photo by Jüergen Freund)

Enforcement of Coastal and 

Marine Environmental Laws 

in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas

By    Romeo Trono, Country Executive Director, Conservation International-Philippines,

  Jose Ricky Biyo, Verde Passage Corridor Coordinator, CI-Philippines,

  Joel S. Gutierrez, Enforcement Facilitator, CI-Philippines,

  Manuel Narvadez, Jr., Enforcement Incentive Coordinator, CI-Philippines

  Art Faburada, Balabac Strait Corridor Coordinator, CI-Philippines,

  Vivien Facunla, Cagayan Ridge Corridor Coordination Associate, CI-Philippines, 

  Angelique Songco, Tubbataha Management Offi ce

  Rina Maria P. Rosales, Resources, Environment and Economics Center for Studies (REECS),

  Chung Chen Fung, Reef Guardian,

  and Evangeline F.B. Miclat, Marine Program Coordinator, CI-Philippines

While the Philippines has many 

reasons to develop its marine 

protected areas (MPAs), the day-to-day 

responsibility for maintaining it falls on 

many stakeholders. More often, once 

MPAs are established, communities 

struggle with lack of funding, 

government support  and facilities, 

and weak enforcement of coastal and 

marine environmental laws.

While there are numerous laws 

that provide policy and regulatory 

framework for coastal management, 

these laws are not enforced fully for 

a variety of reasons. Oftentimes, laws 

are poorly understood and resources 

allocated for their enforcement 

and prosecution are frequently not 

enough.  

In the four marine biodiversity 

corridors, namely the Verde Island 

Passage, Cagayan Ridge, the Balabac 

Strait and the Tri-National Sea Turtle 

Corridor, implementation, compliance 

and enforcement of environmental 

laws vary.  

The Philippine Fisheries Code of 

1998 (Republic Act 8550) is the main 

national law on fisheries. It gives local 

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