DENR Urges Fishermen to Help Protect Environment

This developed after concerned government agencies confirmed that illegal fishing is still happening in the coastal provinces of the region.

According to Eric Herzon Gallego, DENR-Caraga information officer, mangroves are very important for fishes as this served as their home. He added if mangrove trees are abundant in a certain coastal area, this means that all types of fishes are also abundant.

The official further said in Caraga Region, the two provinces of Surigao are known to have abundant mangrove forests. In Agusan del Norte, the coastal areas of Cabadbaran City, Tubay, and municipalities along the Lake Mainit are known to have mangrove trees grown.

However, Mr Gallego said in Barangays Masao and Lumbocan here, have less mangrove trees as these are cut down and used as firewood by people in the area.

Because of this, the official enjoins fishermen and the general public to take care of the mangrove trees as a way of protecting the environment and natural resources.

According to Philippine Clearing House Mechanism for Biodiversity, earlier literatures have reported that mangrove areas are found in Palawan, Aurora, Isabela and Quezon in Luzon, Aklan, Samar provinces in the Visayas, and Zamboanga, Surigao and Sulu provinces in Mindanao, with the largest remaining mangroves areas located in Mindanao (112,745 has), Samar (65,119 has), Palawan (37,432) and Luzon (16,769 has).

The largest mangrove areas are found in Regions IV-B, Region VIII, CARAGA and Region VII. Palawan (52, 693 hectares) in Region IV-B appears to have the largest mangrove area, followed by Northern Samar (9, 961.69) in Region VIII, Surigao del Sur (16,865.14) in Region XIII, and Bohol (14,156.37) in Region VII (DENR-PAWB-CMMO, 2008).