Since 2005, CI and its partners in the local, national and regional arenas have been supporting the establishment of MPA and MPA networks in priority marine biodiversity corridors in the Seascape: Verde Island Passage Corridor between the waters of Batangas and Mindoro island, Cagayan Ridge in Sulu Sea, and the Trinational Sea Turtle Corridor comprising of waters of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The MPAs in these corridors are set aside for conservation purposes and are protected from fishing activities in order to conserve critical habitats and allow fish stocks to thrive. MPAs have been shown to have great potential in contributing to food security as well as climate change adaptation.
CI said that ensuring the effectiveness of these MPAs requires effective enforcement of relevant marine and fisheries laws. In the Verde Island Passage, the joint MPA and Bantay Dagat (Sea Watch) networks have been established to improve enforcement Passage-wide. The Philippine National Police-Maritime Group (PNP-MG), Provincial PNP, the Bantay Dagat Network, and the Province of Batangas have entered into a Memorandum of Agreement that provides for coordination mechanisms to ensure effective enforcement. Similar partnerships have also been pursued in other corridors, through partnerships with agencies such as the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Navy.
Verde Passage’s growing network of MPAs currently comprises more than 16,000 hectares, including at least three thousand hectares of “no take” zones, or areas where fishing activities are completely prohibited. These include a 1,050-hectare no take zone in Lubang Island, Occidental Mindoro, which is the biggest no take area in the Passage. It is also hailed as the first “climate-SMART” MPA, designed with climate change impacts and resiliency considerations in mind.