News from Calatagan

The past few weeks have been very busy but fruitful!

We have been networking with fishers across Calatagan, and are learning that there are a number of different communities involved in collecting aquarium fish. We have now held focus groups with 3 different communities, and are finding that each of these face different harvest conditions and their approaches vary widely.

The shoreline of Barangay 1 with aquarium fisher paddleboats ready to go out for a day’s collection. Credit: R. Turley

We recently met with fishers in a community called Santa Ana, the main community we have been visiting. They often collect fish locally but also regularly travel to a different island, Mindoro. During our focus group discussion with them, they were very excited to show us where they can and cannot fish. We learned not only about their travels, but also several exclusion zones where fishing is not allowed. Surprisingly, this isn’t only in the Marine Protected Areas set aside from conservation, but also around several privately owned beaches, where resorts have been recently established.

An aquarium fisher scouring the reef for the species he needs to catch that day.

Credit: R.Turley

In contrast, the second community of fishers we have met with are in Barangay 1. The Barangay Captain (local leader) told us that the aquarium trade there started in the 1970s, and that he used to be a byahero (middleman). The community is much smaller, uses paddleboats instead of motorboats, to fish locally. They collect every day in good conditions, from 7-11 AM, and do not sit on the beach and socialize with each other afterwards, unlike the community in Santa Ana. Their beach site is also different, and when we observed one of the collectors, we noted that the fishers have to travel further out to sea. Their site has very shallow water near to shore, which is dominated by seagrass with many jellyfish. However, once they get out to deeper water, there is a beautiful reef. The coral diversity was impressive, and the reef was full of life—we even got to see a giant clam and mantis shrimp!

We also finally tracked down a community of fishers who travel between Calatagan and Looc, a municipality in one of Mindoro’s islands. During a focus group discussion, these fishers also told us that the water visibility and fish abundance is better in Mindoro due to less tourism than in Calatagan. This allows them to catch, for example, the Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica). However, every 15 days, they travel to Calatagan to sell their fish to the intermediaries who take the fish to markets in Manila.

Aquarium fishers deciding how best to

illustrate the areas where they collect.

Credit: M. Soniega

Interviews with these Mindoro-based fishers are allowing us to compare conditions and fishing rules across different communities and municipalities. Overall, it seems like the fishing laws in Mindoro are more strictly enforced than in Calatagan, with a well-patrolled Marine Sanctuary. We also learned that there are some individual barangay captains between Mindoro and Calatagan that do not allow collection of aquarium fish because they believe all fishers use toxic cyanide as part of their collection.

Today we saw approximately 1000 firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica) being packaged and transported to Manila. Each small bag contains seven fish, with each fish worth about 10-12 pesos. Credit: R. Turley

As we begin to map out the different fishing communities and their practices, we have realized that most of the fishers across all three groups are related in some way, and so are creating a family tree of them. The aquarium trade here is a family enterprise, with the livelihood being passed down the generations. However, the fishers said they would welcome a new fisher into their large “family”.

We are taking a brief road trip up to Manila to renew our visas and visit an aquarium exporter, and will then return to begin interviews with both fishers and government officials in the beginning of June.

#fishtales #governance #wildlifetrade #aquarium