MORE than 1.6 million Filipinos earn a living from resources from the sea and 85 percent, or 1.1 million, are near-shore fishermen.
It should be noted that almost 60 million people, or 56 percent of Filipinos, get their protein from fish.
However, their livelihood is under threat as the country’s marine resources have been in constant danger. Several factors, such as overfishing and overpopulation, have led to the destruction of the country’s aquatic resources. As the country’s population gets bigger, the demand for fish also gets bigger, causing a big strain on its supply.
Ironically, the fishermen have to share the blame as some of them use destructive methods, such as the use of dynamite, cyanide and other destructive gears.
But all is not lost for the country. In 2010 Arlington, Virginia-based Rare started working in the Philippines to help Filipinos protect and save its marine resources. As a global organization that has worked in almost 60 countries, Rare approaches marine-conservation problems by focusing on changing the people’s behavior.
This means Rare Philippines will help the fishermen define their role and contribute to the bigger picture.
Rocky Sanchez Tirona, vice president of Rare Philippines, is confident that fishermen can be convinced to stop their illegal practices and get involved in the protection of the seas to make it more beneficial for them.
“We want fishermen to stop destructive practices like dynamite or cyanide fishing. There are many types of behavior changes needed in a community, and we help the partners running a campaign figure out what they should focus on,” she said in an interview.
Social marketing, also known as the science of behavior change, will be the core of the conservation program, according to Tirona. She added that the scheme is similar to the method of how commercial businesses attract consumers to patronize their products to achieve profitability.
From 2010 to 2012, Tirona said Rare Philippines has worked with local governments and nonprofit partners in Surigao del Sur, Bohol, Negros Oriental, Davao, Cebu, Southern Leyte and Camarines Sur.
Creating stewards of change backed by science
INITIALLY, Rare looks for local organizations or government units to partner with, who, in turn, nominate a conservation fellow from their staff to implement programs.
After a rigorous application process, the conservation fellows are selected and trained for over two or three years to develop and implement what is known globally as a Pride campaign. The training program earns a conservation fellow a master’s degree in Social Marketing from the University of Texas in El Paso.
Tirona says the Pride campaign seeks to motivate people to improve their communities.
“It’s a series of activities that inspire people to take pride in their way of life and the local waters that make their communities unique, while also giving them the tools they need to preserve their fisheries resources,” Tirona said.
Further, the campaign also analyzes the community’s challenges and areas of improvement relevant to fishing, understanding their target audiences and the people around them, creating campaign materials that promote desired behaviors, and organizing community-wide activities that get fishermen and their families excited and supportive of these behaviors so that they become the social norm.
According to Tirona, the campaigns also include back-end work needed to achieve change faster, such as strengthening enforcement systems, organizing management committees to oversee marine sanctuaries, and training local monitoring teams who can report back to the community on how their reefs or fish stocks are progressing.
The Pride campaign, the main avenue of Rare’s programs, aims to inspire people to take pride in the species and habitats that make their community unique, while also introducing practical alternatives to environmentally destructive practices.
Tirona said the campaign has yielded positive results as the 12 Rare conservation fellows successfully implemented 12 Pride campaigns resulting in an average of 47-percent increase in fish stock inside no-take zones, almost five times the target of 10 percent.
The level of knowledge about marine protection also increased by an average of 15.3 percentage points.
Understanding the audience
THE second batch of Rare conservation fellows, whose work spans from 2012 to the present, has recently graduated. They have been working in 13 areas in Zamboanga Sibugay, Surigao del Sur, Davao, Negros Oriental, Cebu, Bohol, Palawan and Camarines Sur.
But their engagement with Rare does not end as they continue to work on their third-year plans as alumni so they can replicate the work they’ve done in other sites within their municipality.
Susan Cataylo, a conservation fellow from Pilar, Camotes, in Cebu, said her training helped a lot in making her understand the viewpoints of their target audience.
“In the past, we would do posters telling fishers something was illegal.
But we never thought about things from their point of view. Social marketing taught me to really understand my audience, and think about what’s in it for them. Now, I can convince fishermen that doing the right thing is good for them and for their families. In my campaign, we make them proud of doing the right thing—they will be sikat [well-known] or a star in their community,” she said in a separate interview.
Another 12 sites, with a new batch of conservation fellows, are about to be selected for Rare’s third partner in the Philippines.
Tirona said they would be implementing Fish Forever, a global partnership between Rare, the Environmental Defense Fund and the University of California in Santa Barbara, which aims to build from the success of marine-protected areas and provide fishermen with greater incentives to manage their fisheries better.
Tirona said the success of any conservation program would depend ultimately on the people—their behavior toward nature, their beliefs about its value and their ability to protect it without sacrificing basic life needs.
“Rare envisions conservationists to be as skilled in social change as in science and as committed to community-based solutions as national and international policy-makers,” Tirona said.
The Rare 2 conservation fellows include Juniemar Montera, Liaflora Orcullo, Felix Badon, Girley Gumanao, Alpios Delima, Richard Balauro, Susan Cataylo, Marjurie Abella, Joel Balasta, Elmer Guevarra, Christina Dalusung, Marjorie Atole and Fausto Romero Jr.