DENR research arm to study

Virgin island carrying capacity

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol Sept 26 (PIA)—While Puntod island, or more popularly Virgin Island and its pristine sand bar is now closed to all human activities for six months to a year, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is commissioning a study group to determine the area’s carrying capacity.

In environmental science, carrying capacity is the number of organisms that an ecosystem can sustainably support, and in the case of Panglao Island Protected Seascapes, (PIPS) and the tourism activities in the area’s multiple use zones, it is the number of persons who can step into the protected area without bringing environmental impacts to the area’s specific ecosystem.

According to Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer for Tagbilaran City (CENRO Tagbilaran), Glicerita Racho, while the Puntod island is restricting entry for the next 6 months to a year, the DENR through its Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) would be conducting underwater assessments in the area.

“We would be having a carrying capacity and area assessment to assess the extent of the damage, and then we will see the policies and ordinances which the LGU enacted and the DENR laws and implementing rules so we could align these and agree on a uniform operation and implementation,” Racho said.

Such is so, to determine the area’s carrying capacity and so that the DENR through its Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) can implement regulations based on scientific data.

CENRO Racho joined the DENR led by Assistant Regional Director Charlie Fabre and the PIPS PAMB, as well as local stakeholders especially those involved in the tourism industry operating within the designated multiple use zone of Panglao’s protected area.

It may be recalled that Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, himself recommended to the PAMB the closure of the Puntod Island and the PIPS to tourism activities, following a documented case of vandalism committed by a snorkeling guide in the table corals of the protected area.

By September 9, the DENR PAMB erected notices of the closure of the area, until further notice.

The investigations prior to the closure order floated several issues that sprung from the implementation of the collection of access fees, illegal tour operations, the use of unaccredited tour guides and tour services, the unfamiliarity of the guides in the environmental protocols, pollution and the wanton dropping of anchors that destroy corral patches.

At the PIPS Alignment and Harmonization of different laws and Regulations in the PIPS, Racho said the gathering is an aftermath of the surfacing of issues like the boat operators, vendors who wish to establish their businesses in the area, and the vandalism in the table corals.

The alignment, also came after the PIPS PAMB meeting last September 6, 2024, which was a venue for these issues to come up, she said, during a pull-aside interview during the activity break.

We finalized and gathered these issues so we could come up with resolutions, Racho shared, citing with the closure of the snorkeling area where the vandalism happened, and the operation of all activities in six months to one year.

Another issue, allegations of collection of steep fees, which the DENR reef rangers manning the PIPS area collect.

Racho said they based their fees in the standard mandated by DENR Department Administrative Order (DAO) 2016-24, to which the stakeholders want scrapped in favor of the local ordinance.

Accessing a protected area, based on the revised rates of fees for entrance and use of resources in protected areas says adult Filipinos pay P30, students pay half that and foreigners pay P100.

As to using resources, like snorkeling within the designated site, Filipinos pay P60, Foreigners pay P100. For SCUBA diving, the same DAO says Filipinos pay P800 per person, while foreigners pay P1800.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said that Panglao legislated P100 entrance fee and P250.00 for a snorkel guide.

To this, she said the local DENR would like to study the proposal, submit these to the Central Office so they could also study the same and so that the management of protected areas can be amended, it there is a need.

“We will be gathering possible action from this multi-sector group, to see if there is any reason or possibility that we can take down the fees, plan in the next two days and see how we can facilitate the reopening of the site so the community can get back to their livelihood,” Racho summed. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)

PAMB PLANNING. PAMB member and Panglao Mayor Edgardo Arcay brought in the open some more issues that when resolved could help sustain the protected area. With pollution also threatening the sustainability of the protected area, Mayor Arcay wants this issue taken as part of the sustainability solutions to the PIPS sustianble management. (PIABOhol)

PREPARING FOR THE REOPENING OF THE SITE. While PIPS is still closed to tourism recreational activities, the DENR is initiating moves to implement sustainability solutions to conserve and preserve the protected areas, while allowing the community to access the multiple use zones, without seriously impacting the unique ecosystem, explains CENRO Glicerita Racho. (RAHC/PIA-7/Bohol)