Guardians of the sea: assessing awareness of the city ordinance on illegal fishing in olango Island

Author: 
Apple Rose C. Ledesma, Roldan Pepito, Ruby Mary Gold Tamsi, Julius Ompad and Mario Rizon Jr.

This study determinedthe level of Awareness on the Lapu-Lapu City Ordinance No. 93 among the Fishermen in Barangay San Vicente, Barangay Tingo, and Barangay SabangLapu-Lapu City.Any infringement of a criminal statute specifically enacted to preserve wildlife is considered a wildlife crime, according to a widely used though extremely broad definition of the term. The laws usually cover animals (including mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians, fish, and even insects), as well as certain plants (Gregorich, 1992; Muth & Bowe, 1998). The majority of the Philippines' regions are coastal, and it is believed that 70% of Filipinos reside there (Palomares and Pauly, 2014).In terms of the Philippine economy and food security, fishing is very important (Santos et al., 2011). Since poverty in the Philippines has remained persistently high and the population has increased, it is necessary to ensure the food supply to maintain feeding the population. Fisheries have a favorable nutritional impact as a source of vital protein and critical nutrients, making them a strategically significant aspect (Prein and Ahmed, 2000; Irz et al., 2007). To carry out this study, the researcher utilizeddescriptive method in describing, analyzing, and interpreting a quantitative data at Olango Island more particularly (San Vicente, Barangay Tingo, and Barangay Sabang) Lapu-Lapu City. It served as a fact-finding method in which the survey questionnaire served as the primary data gathering instrument in this study. Descriptive analysis includes adequate interpretation of the data gathered.This study was conducted in Olango Island, Lapu-Lapu City. Olango Island is composed of 8 barangays such as Barangay, Baring, Caw-oy, Sabang, Santa Rosa, Talima, Tingo, Tunga-san, and San Vicente. This study was conducted particularly in Barangay San Vicente, Barangay Tingo, and Barangay Sabang.The respondents of this study are limited to 150 fishermen from three chosen barangays, which are Tingo (50), San Vicente (50), and Sabang (50), which were chosen through non-probability sampling. The researchers chose Olango Island since it is a diverse coastal ecosystem, and the majority of its population relies on fishing as a livelihood.This research study utilized non-probability sampling method in determining the total sample population from the total population of all the chosen barangays. Individuals are selected based on non-random criteria, and not everyone has a chance of being included. The findings of the study then revealed that a lack of education and coordination made it hard to address the problem among fishermen’s awareness of Lapu-Lapu City Ordinance No. 93. On the other hand, there is an immense possibility that most of them only received second-hand knowledge without absolute knowledge of Lapu-Lapu City Ordinance No. 93. This means that there is a lack of informational drive and cooperation between the fishermen and the law enforcers against these illegal activities.

Paper No: 
4957