A Cebu Fishing Village Built Its Own Marine Sanctuary. It Worked.
Twenty years ago, the fishers of Gilutongan set aside 15 hectares of reef. Their catch has since tripled.
The Reef That Paid Them Back
The story is almost too clean.
The setup
In the early 2000s, catches around Gilutongan Island had collapsed. A local co-op, working with Silliman University marine biologists, declared a 15-hectare no-take zone. Enforcement was community-run. Fines went to the school.
The result
By 2019, fish biomass inside the sanctuary was 6.4 times higher than adjacent unprotected reef. Spillover raised catch-per-unit-effort in surrounding waters by roughly 3x. Household income for participating fishers rose accordingly.
The transfer
Nineteen barangays along the Central Visayas coast have since adopted the model. Not all succeeded. The ones that did shared three things: community-led enforcement, transparent finances, and a marine biologist on speed-dial.
Conservation that pays is conservation that lasts.
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