Browsing by Author "Salamanca, Albert M."

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Institutional Arrangements Affecting Coastal Resources Management Initiatives in the Philippines: Trends, Demands and Issues
(2002) Salamanca, Albert M.; Luna, Maria Paz
"The Philippines has substantial experiences in coastal resources management (CRM). Since the mid-1970s, there have been at least 200 projects undertaking different aspects of coastal resources management from community education/organizing, livelihood, advocacy, marine protected area planning to policy development and research. The growth is phenomenal. The onset of several large projects with funding from bilateral and multilateral donors played a key role in its increase. Today, the management of the country's coastal resources has used different approaches from integrated coastal management to community-based coastal resources management to co-management and to integrated area development. The key themes in all these approaches are integration across diverse sectors and uses of coastal resources and the involvement of communities and the government in coastal resources management. "Central to this development is the role formal institutions play in shaping the domain through which CRM prospered. There are key developments in the institutional arena that led to its phenomenal growth in the Philippines. Foremost among these developments is the Constitution of 1987, which, aside from specifying three modes of utilization of resources, spurred the enactment of important pieces of legislation that supports CRM. Secondly, the interest which the United Nations Convention on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 engendered on integrated coastal resources management worldwide and the subsequent acceptance of bilateral and multilateral donors of their importance. Thirdly, another factor leading to the growth of CRM in the Philippines is the presence of a diverse number of local NGOs, who are in the forefront of experimenting various aspects of CRM in the Philippines, and the availability of NGO funding mechanisms. Finally, CRM flourishes in the Philippines due to the opportunities provided by the government through its policies to involve communities and other civil society actors in pursuing its mandates as manifested in important legislations providing for community participation. "The aim of this paper is to show the growth of CRM in the country, the factors that are thought to have played crucial roles, the formal institutions that underpin its development, and the issues that need to be addressed for CRM to fully succeed."
Management of Wetland Resources in the Lower Mekong Basin: Issues and Future Directions
(2001) Torell, Magnus; Salamanca, Albert M.; Ahmed, Mahfuzuddin
"The Lower Mekong Basin has extensive wetlands and these are being threatened by numerous problems. Most of these problems are interdependent and interact with one another. The lack of an appropriate definition of wetlands applicable to the region, pervasive inefficiencies and chronic lack of funds among riparian governments, and the poor appreciation of the true economic importance of wetlands and its resources are among the most prominent. The current definition, based on the Convention on Wetlands, is too broad when compared to the common understanding of wetlands as being swamps, marshes and the like, and was developed specifically for wetlands with international importance as waterfowl habitats. Furthermore, wetlands are composed of different types of resources, which require different modes of management. Often, institutional competition, overlapping mandates and sometimes jealousies occur between government departments when they try to assert their authority on a particular wetland resource and use, and put forward their development plans without considering how these may conflict with other wetlands uses. Finally, effective wetland management requires reliable statistics or information on rate of harvest of natural resources such as fish and others, fishing/harvesting methods over time in order to determine the level of exploitation, and the status of the natural resources. This information is needed to identify opportunities for expansion, to establish historical trends, and to determine when management interventions are necessary to protect the resources from being overused by other developments. In order to address these issues, ICLARM - The World Fish Center has launched a project, the aim of objectives of which are described in this paper."
The Marine Conservation Project for San Salvador: A Case Study of Fisheries Co-Management in the Philippines
(1997) Katon, Brenda M.; Pomeroy, Robert S.; Salamanca, Albert M.
"San Salvador, an island village of Masinloc municipality in Zambales, Philippines, has been inhabited by approximately three generations of residents. The initial migrants, who were largely farmers from the mainland of Zambales province, did not have a clear tradition of fisheries management and an indigenous expertise on fish stock management. Until the late 1960s, San Salvador residents recalled an abundance of coastal resources and a lack of resource use conflicts, which enabled fishers to enjoy an open and unrestricted access to the fishery. The scenario began to change in the 1970s due to three events: 1) influx of Visayan migrants from the Central Philippines, who belonged to a different ethnolinguistic group with different fishing practices; 2) integration of the village economy into the international market for aquarium fish; and, 3) shift to destructive fishing operations. Together, these event s progressively devastated San Salvador's fishing grounds. They also gave rise to conflicts over fishing gear and over productive fishing spots. "In the late 1980s, the effects of fishery depletion and unabated destruction of coral reefs began to be felt. Open access to the resource, coupled with the rapid decline in fish stocks over the past decades, subjected the San Salvador fishery to further stress. The average fish catch per unit effort reportedly dwindled from 20 kilos per fishing trip in the 1960s to only about 1-3 kilos in 1988, just before the start of the Marine Conservation Project for San Salvador (MCPSS). Many reef fishes, such as groupers, snappers and damselfish, were depleted. A survey of the coral reef substrate in 1988 showed an average of 23 percent live coral cover for the whole island of San Salvador. The worsening resource situation was closely linked to unsound fishing practices, ignorance of fisherfolk on fish stock management, and the existence of unscrupulous leaders from the village, who sometimes supported destructive fishing methods for their own gain. The financial and regulatory limitations of the centralized Philippine government increasingly became apparent. Local fishers, however, felt helpless about the situation and were too fragmented to embark on any collective action to halt resource degradation. The Marine Conservation Project for San Salvador, which was implemented from 1989 to 1993 by a non-government organization, known as the Haribon Foundation, highlights how the fisher community and the local government jointly regenerated fishery resources through coral reef management The redefinition of property rights and rules in 1989, along with vigorous law enforcement activities, complemented resource management efforts. The San Salvador experience attests to how a community can rise above the obstacles associated with de facto open access nature of fisheries. It offers hope to many small island communities in a similar situation with an unwavering resolve to avert resource deterioration."
Measuring Transaction Costs of Fisheries Co-Management
(1998) Kuperan, K.; Mustapha, Nik; Abdullah, Nik Mustapha Raja; Pomeroy, Robert S.; Genio, E.; Salamanca, Albert M.
"Fisheries co-management as an alternative to centralised command and control fisheries management is often suggested as a solution to the problems of fisheries resource use conflicts and overexploitation. Various researchers have talked of the importance of studying the role of transaction costs between different institutional arrangements for managing fisheries resources. There have however been no attempts to verify empirically by measuring the transaction costs involved in fisheries management. This paper provides some measurements of the transaction costs under a fisheries co-management system. The transaction costs can be categorised into three major cost items. These are (1) information costs, (2) collective fisheries decision-making costs, and (3) collective operational costs. The transaction costs of fisheries co-management in San Salvador Island, Philippines is presented. The method of collecting information about transactions cost of fisheries co-management had not been attempted anywhere before. Information on the cost of a wide range of transaction costs variables were collected. The costs are used to assess the relative importance of the various transactions costs in a co-managed and a centrally managed system. The difference in the transaction costs between a centraly managed and a co-managed system is used as a basis for public policy decisions on the choice of alternative institutional arrangements for managing a fishery."