Pandan Island Marine Sanctuary
The Sanctuary was established first in 1991 through the private initiative of the Pandan People and with the help of the German Development Service as a Public Ordenance of the Municipality of Sablayan (30'000 inhabitants). Originally it contains the island of Pandan North and 75 % of the coral reef (16 ha land and fringing coral reef, see figure1). Since 2001 the complete reef area has been included and since November 2002 the Municipality (MENROE) has employed a fulltime park ranger who is doing the patroling of the area.
The improvement of the reef and the fish population in Pandan Island is clearly visible ass there is a sister island of the same size and type where no efforts of protection of the environment have been taken, allowing direct comparisons. The beaches around the island have become a mating ground for hawksbill turtle and together with the municipal environmental agency (MENROE) we have implemented a turtle hatchery where we keep the hatchlings until they are about 6 months old. We do have increasing fish populations and increasing seagrass-fields, there was a dugong sighting in may this year.
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FIGURE 1: Pandan Island Marine and Terrestrial Park
Project goals
A. Specific goals of the project
In the past we have implemented mooring boys and maintained the Marine park boundary boyas to mark the no fishing zone (often they were carried away by storms or cut by people). This is a great effort as the moorings are deep (40-65 meters) and we also drove out with the boat day or night to remind trespassers of their ‘oversight’. With the increase of the population this strategy is not sufficient, there is regularly anchor damages in the protected area and conflicts between the local fishing community and the sanctuary.
With the help of permanent markers the boundary the conflict potential and anchor-damage to the coral will be further minimised. Parallel to this effort there is an public awareness program planned to further the acceptance and understanding for reef conservation and sustainable use.
B. Methods for accomplishing these goals
Implementation of permanent, storm resistant stainless steel marker boys all around the Marine Sanctuary. At present time there is temporary boys on the south, east and north/east side of the Island. There is 2 permanent markers implemented for a test since March 2003. The markers will be fixed on permanent moorings in 40-65 m depth. (please see figure 3).
Significance of the project
Our mission is to protect and preserve the Marine and Terrestrial Sanctuary of Pandan Island. As we all know, the coral reefs of this planet are decaying much too quickly and we do feel it is most important to conserve the still healthy parts of this fragile ecosystem. We feel the reef of Pandan Island is endangered by an increasing fishing community and thus urgently needs a better protection. There is about 5% of anchor-damage in the shallow water zone of 2-4 m depth in the non-marked areas each year. A permanent and complete boundary of marker boyas around the protected zone will reduce the conflicts between the marine park and the local fishermen through minimizing potential grey zones. This will mean less disturbance and damage to the reef.
Time frame of the project
The Pandan Terrestrial and Marine Park is an ongoing project.