In the past several years, the town of Mabini has grown to be one the country’s most popular dive spots, largely owing to its rich coral reefs and proximity to Metro Manila. However, this tourist boom, while providing great benefits to the local economy, is also contributing to the destruction of marine resources because of the irresponsible activities of some divers.
Coral damage and even vandalism have been observed in the popular dive spots, indicating carelessness on the part of divers. Dive boats also cause damage when their anchors scrape the seafloor. Divers have also been reported to collect marine specimens such as aquarium fishes, sea cucumbers, and seashells during their dives.
“If tourism is to be sustained, the quality of the reefs should be maintained,” said Romy Trono, Country Executive Director of Conservation International-Philippines, which initiated the scuba diving training in partnership with the Mabini local government.
Currently, no active policing of diving activities are done, and Bantay Dagat members are mostly confined to checking whether the divers have secured and paid the necessary dive passes. Once they have been trained and certified as open water divers, however, Bantay Dagat members can conduct spot checking of divers’ activities and help monitor the condition of the coral reefs in the diving spots and marine sanctuaries. The Bantay Dagat fishers, who also sometimes moonlight as guides in the many resorts in Balayan Bay, can also help reach out to resort owners and their customers in promoting responsible diving.
PADI Course Director Alvin Nacu said that the fishermen, while initially intimidated by the diving equipment and the learning modules that they had to study, were eager to learn and exhibited great improvement as they went through the course.
The Bantay Dagat members were also looking forward to applying their new skills in their enforcement activities. At the conclusion of the training, the newly-certified divers signed a pledge committing to promote divers’ etiquette. After many years of patrolling marine sanctuary boundaries and scanning the horizon for signs of illegal fishing activities, the Bantay Dagat volunteers are now ready and eager to go underwater.
