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| ==[[Southern Leyte News]]== | | ==[[Southern Leyte News]]== |
| '''Communities extract 170,000 Crown Of Thorns Starfish in Limasawa, Padre Burgos and Maasin City''' | | '''DA-EU Program Benefits 40,000 Households''' |
| *Source: http://pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?menu=2&webregion=R08&article=1281333674402 | | *Source: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/356600/daeu-program-benefits-40000-households |
| *Friday 6th of April 2012 | | *April 9, 2012, 4:39pm |
| :by Erna S. Gorne | | :by PHOEBE JEN INDINO |
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| MAASIN CITY, Southern Leyte, April 6 (PIA) -- The bane of corals are finally being decimated. At least 170,000 Crown Of Thorns Starfish (COTS), locally known of dap-marine invertebrates that feed on corals which are marine sanctuaries, and also kill corals, were extracted particularly in Limasawa, Padre Burgos, and Maasin City, all of Southern Leyte in less than 10 days.
| | SILAGO, Southern Leyte– A food security program sponsored by the European Union, Germany-based Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Department of Agriculture (DA) has benefited over 40,000 poor households in Eastern Visayas. |
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| “We have found extreme population of COTS particularly in the municipalities of Limasawa and Padre Burgos and the city of Maasin where we estimated the presence of over a thousand COTS in one hectare compared to 12 COTS in normal condition, “ according to Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Management Office (PENRMO) – Coastal Fisheries Resource Management Office (CFRMO) Chief Eva Abad.
| | The program, named Enhancement of Food Security in the Visayas (EFOS), which was implemented by the Deutsche Gessellschaft fur Internationale Zummenarbeit (GIZ), and which ended early this year, was designed to sustainably increase food security, and agricultural, fisheries and forestry productivity in the region, with special focus on Eastern Visayas. |
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| She said that in less than 10 days of synchronized extraction of COTS in the mentioned three different areas, an estimated 170,000 of COTS were partially gathered by the communities including the owners of foreign-operated dive shops in the locality particularly in Padre Burgos.
| | GIZ operates in more than 130 countries worldwide with most of its work commissioned by the BMZ |
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| Abad said the initial estimates of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) Provincial Office reported last March 22 that in one 500 square-meter area of corals alone, there were an estimated of over a thousand COTS.
| | EFOS was comprised of four project components, namely, natural resources governance, infrastructure through cash-for-work, productivity and production enhancement, and crop insurance. |
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| However, BFAR Provincial Office is now undertaking an actual underwater assessment of the presence of COTS to 500 square meters of corals and to determine the extent of the damaged coral areas had done in the province, she said.
| | EFOS Senior Adviser Alex Tabada said the program’s cash-for-work covered over 12,000 households in 24 towns, earning some P35 million in wages. |
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| She added that there will be more joint lined up activities by the local government units and by the GIZ, a German organization in order to prevent this impending coastal disaster in the province.
| | That particular program component paved way for the creation of 62-kilometers of farm-to-market roads and 40 kilometers of upland foot trails including 11.4 kilometers of communal irrigation canals supporting some 933 hectares of ricelands. |
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| In Maasin City alone, the local government unit–initiated extraction got a total of 23,000 COTS collected March 27, 2012, she added.
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| She noted that extraction of COTS most of the times were stalled due to the lack of funds in order to mobilize the community to join in the extraction along their barangays. (ldl/esg/PIA8 SoLeyte)
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| ==Photo Gallery of Southern Leyte, Philippines== | | ==Photo Gallery of Southern Leyte, Philippines== |