Disclosure: The author’s spouse owns and operates a travel agency, which may be construed (but the author hopes it is not) as to having an effect on the context of this post. There’s a fantastic story that came in yesterday afternoon about a Puerto Princesa fisherman being saved by a pod of spinner dolphins and pilot whales. As the story goes, the fisherman had been floating in the open water for nearly 24 hours, bleeding from crustacean bites, when a pod of dolphins took it upon themselves to nudge the man and his makeshift lifeboat towards the shore.
“Dumating yung mga dolphins. Ang dami nila. Tapos may lumapit na dalawang balyena. Dun sila sa tigkabilang tabi ko lumalangoy,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. (There were dolphins, lots of them. Then a pair of whales started swimming on both sides) “Palit palitan sila tinutulak ako gamit ang kanilang palikpik,” (They would push me alternately using their fins). Meanwhile, he said the rest of the pod stayed close to him to around just a meter away apparently trying to make sure no harm would come to him from any other animal. [Inquirer.Net]
What makes fisherman Ronnie Dabal’s ordeal more special is that he and Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn attributed the fisherman’s “rescue” as a sign of gratitude from the dolphins. As it turns out, Dabal is a deputized dolphin warden, and part-times as a dolphin spotter and habitat protector in Puerto Princesa Bay.
Dolphin spotters — a common second job for Puerto Princesa fishermen — head out early in the morning to look for large pods of dolphins, whose location they then relay to boatmen bringing tourists in for dolphin watching tours (using, what else: SMS text messages). Ronnie Dabal had been part of a program conducted by the Palawan NGO Network and ABS-CBN Bantay Kalikasan Foundation, with the help of the City of Puerto Princesa administration, wherein local folk, especially fisherfolk, are trained to find, identify, and protect dolphins, whale sharks, and other marine life as well as their habitats. Ultimately, locals earn revenues from eco-tourism activities, making for a win-win situation wherein the environment is protected and the locals earn a windfall from tourism, augmenting their traditional fishing or farming livelihood.
The locals, in turn, have a lot to thank for with such programs. A little over a year ago, my wife, her friends and I visited Puerto Princesa, where we were brought on an island hopping tour of Honda Bay by a guide named (I kid you not) Gloria. Gloria gave us a complete and detailed rundown of the tour: the origins of the word “Honda” (from the Spanish “hondo”, meaning “deep”, and not the Japanese car maker), the vigorous clean and green efforts of the city (our chain-smoking friend was getting mouthfuls from Gloria, boatmen, and other locals alike each and every time he would out of sheer habit throw aside a cigarette butt), and the various resort islands in the bay. It didn’t stop there; by the time we were in the water, not only was she pulling five snorkelers (my wife and her barkada) all at the same time, she would identify each kind of fish, crustacean, and coral that was there, sometimes by species name. Later that afternoon, I casually asked her if she were from a fishing family, with her excellent swimming skills and strong sea legs. I was surprised when she answered back: “hindi, magsasaka ako”.
It is difficult to believe that merely a decade and a half before, some locals and fishermen not unlike Ronnie Dabal were considered as part of the problem when it comes to environmental protection. In 1997, whale sharks, colloquially known as butanding, were discovered in Donsol, Sorsogon, and where subsequently hunted for their soft white flesh, which can be sold to Taiwanese dealers at around $15 a kilo — the most expensive whale meat in the world. As late as 1999, an estimate put 70,000 fishermen, or about 12% of the fishermen in the Philippines, are involved in illegal dynamite fishing.
Over the past decade, the tide is being turned with the help of various NGOs, as well as their respective LGUs, training programs were set up all around the country, and eco-tourism has become an increasingly bigger part in the lives and livelihoods of locals. Fishermen, aside from being dolphin spotters, are also being trained to be snorkeling guides and lifeguards — quite easy for them since it is customary for them to skin dive during fishing trips. Womenfolk are being taught crafts to be able to sell as souvenirs; everyone is being taught basic English to be able to communicate with foreign tourists. Donsol fishermen, for their part, have become whale spotters themselves, earning large sums during the whale shark watching season.
While I have no solid numbers at this point, my own trips around the country over the past year looks promising — the stories of Filipinos who are increasingly turning to eco-tourism to augment their incomes — or sometimes, who turned such activities into full-time jobs, are the same whether one goes to Palawan, or Bohol, or Davao, or Camiguin. Our guide in Bohol was a former OFW; our divemaster in Davao comes from a family of farmers; our Camiguin guide was a former Stork sales agent. Over that same year I learned to appreciate marine life to a greater extent, far from being an ordinary beach bum frolicking at the edge of the water and enjoying white sand.
The first time I snorkeled, and saw first hand just how beautiful Philippine marine ecosystems are, was in December 2007 — by November 2008 I tried, for the first time, scuba diving, finally being able to go down to the level of those corals:
Note: Unfortunately I could not embed the video on this post, so you could follow the link to the video instead –
No need for any fancy doctorate degree from an overseas university to appreciate that beauty, definitely. No need for audio even. It’s amazing just how teeming the marine ecosystem is at merely five to ten feet from the surface. My wife took this footage with a regular digital camera in a waterproof case, but needed to just snorkel above me and the dive master to capture the richness of the reef below.
Oh, and if you’d rant that it’s probably gonna be expensive — that 20 minute dive only costs PHP1,000 per person. It would’ve been PHP1,200 for two dives, but we couldn’t take a second dive since our flight was later that day, and apparently it is quite deadly to go on a flight right after going on scuba. One thousand pesos — the amount you’d spend on just one bag of groceries in SM — for the experience of a lifetime.
Clearly, the Philippine eco-tourism scene’s promising outlook presents several lessons that must be appreciated and fully appreciated. Foremost of these lessons is that locals will fiercely defend whatever livelihood they have — make the environment their livelihood and they will defend it out of their own volition. Everything else follows — compliance with laws, self-policing amongst ranks, even a total change in attitude with regards to littering.
On the other hand, we have to do our part in helping our eco-tourism industry grow as big as it can, and the best way to do this is to go out there and see it for yourself. If there’s any way that best implements an effective “trickle down” effect (whether or not you believe in it), it is going to the provinces and spending money on the services and goods offered by locals. Instead of bringing your money out to shopping in Hong Kong or going to Disneyland or Ocean Park, check out the real fish in the real ocean. Experience the beauty of the countryside — and vigorously promote it to city dwellers both here and abroad. Everyone will benefit from that.
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excellent positive blog. thanks jon, you give me hope. :)
Great dolphin story, Jon. And a good plug for eco-tourism. By the way:
I tried, for the first time, scuba diving, finally being able to touch those corals…
Kids, dont touch anything! Look, take pictures, but do not touch the corals. These are delicate creatures.
Jeg,
The instruction was that it was okay to touch the solid ones, but never the soft ones, especially anemones, which sting! :P
Should’ve made that clear.
Eco Tourism is the best. Why isn’t there one right here in Manila?
Once ate whale burger in Japan. Not that expensive either (200 php maybe). Hope the species is not the same speciea that ply Philippine waters.
The 1,000 php already includes O2?
And I really want to sea Antarctica before it melts.
I still feel guilty about that live coral I got from San Joaquin for my science class in elementary.
BrianB,
Yep, it already included the O2. We even had to use a more concentrated O2 mix, with a higher ratio against Nitrogen, because of our flight.
In Manila there’s the Manila Ocean Park. It’s nice, but still essentially a big saltwater aquarium. Nothing beats seeing them firsthand in their natural habitat.
Sorry, but it sounds to me like a fairy tale for adults. Or a parable pleading for a kinder, gentler Homo sapiens.
If this were some illiterate fisherman, and not one of Mayor Ed Hagedorn’s “dolphin wardens”, the story would be nearly miraculous. As it stands, though, I am almost ashamed to admit it, But I’m SKEPTICAL about the entire veracity of this story! I don’t know why, but that was my first impression after reading PDI’s story today. Now there are a lot of details…Hmmm…
DJB,
I understand that there are doubts regarding this, especially since there have been no extensive studies made with regards to cetaceans rescuing humans.
I am sure, however, that you’re aware that that’s not the point of the article. ;)
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Apologies for the formatting glitch. Nick and I are working on fixing it back… for some reason whenever I edit the post the video disappears, but when Nick edited it to embed the video, this time the line breaks and paragraphs disappeared. Bummer!
Jon,
Been doing a prelim search. I haven’t found even ONE reported instance of such a thing happening in the past. But then, that is just my googling.
Also, I didn’t realize that crustaceans (“bugto”) could swim out in the open ocean and eat up soggy fishermen. Maybe on the beach, but while he was floating on the piece of styropor? These must be amphibious bugto super cannibalistic crabs or something.
Thirty spinner dolphins and two pilot whales saves a human being. That’s one for the headlines.
But, what WAS the point of this story if not uhmm, the story?
DJB,
Errr, what I meant was, the point of *my* article is not that dolphins rescue humans, but that humans can earn a sustainable livelihood through protecting dolphins :D
The instruction was that it was okay to touch the solid ones, but never the soft ones, especially anemones, which sting!
Some of the solid ones, like the ones in your video, are still alive. Corals grow very slowly and are sometimes a very thin layer on their calcium ‘skeletons’. It’s probably ok to touch dead ones, if you can tell which ones are dead but even then… I suppose a good rule of thumb, kids, is ‘When in doubt, dont.’ Even better is, ‘Just dont.’ ;)
This is especially true when eco-tourism becomes big in this country. Imagine all those tourists touching the coral.
Yeah, DO NOT TOUCH CORALS (I’ve killed enough to last me several lifetimes as it is). Now for the positive side of the article.
Which makes educating and informing more people even more pertinent!
I shall pay my dues in Coral purgatory :(
Oops, sorry Jon. Am on board with eco-tourism. Doesn’t require a highly educated work force and we do have the natural resource. We just gotta think more like dolphins: Save the humans!
yeah, but i wonder about how easy it is to fly to the philippines, then to Bohol… i have a friend in Singapore who dives alot, and she dives in malaysia and indonesia all the time… mura lang kaya?
anyway, ang ganda tlga ng kadagatan sa pinas, IMHO, versus our neighbors. but maybe i’m biased!
GabbyD,
In as much as I consistently criticize Cebu Pacific, its role in making Philippine air travel cheaper and more accessible to the middle classes.
For your friend in Singapore, she could take a direct flight from Singapore to Cebu, and then take a ferry (1 hour trip) to Tagbilaran, and then a 20 minute ride to Bohol Divers’ Club in Panglao Island.
As for rates, AFAIK Bohol is pricier than Davao when it comes to scuba, but I may be wrong. My wife would know better. :)
Please read or if you have money,buy using a credit card our paper on Metro Manila’s birds
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V91-4V4M2P6-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F13%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235885%239999%23999999999%2399999%23FLA%23display%23Articles)&_cdi=5885&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=19&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0249b3c9f529e26d221a14cbe19699b8
That’s another reason why being green means money. We need just parks and even degraded Manila has ecotourism potential.
If you find it too geeky, just holler. This is an example of bargain rate science. UP just gave us 50K to do this study and from that fund grad students.
Please spread the news. I apologize for plugging :-) but I hope Ayala and SM Prime and other developers get to read it and hire my students instead of hiring some expat to do green planning.
Ooops the link is badly long.Just go to http://www.sciencedirect.com, look for “landscape and urban planning”, articles in press.
Thanks
The reaction of Mayor Tom or to the story of his own employee and tourist guide, Ronnie Dabal, is described in the PDI article as follows:
Ahem. Methinks I know which PR bureau helped sell this fairy tale the PDI is peddling for all the good grade school and high school kids out there who really do use the paper to “supplement” their barren classrooms with knowledge and accurate scientific information.
@Blackshama
interesting article. i look forward to reading it in depth. maybe u ca blog about it separately? as a preliminary question (maybe u can answer this elsewhere), is the birds that are no longer found in Diliman, are they extinct in the philippine archipelago? or just in diliman?
@ DJB on December 18th, 2008 3:35 pm
to be fair to Mayor Tom and PDI, his description of events was never described as scientific consensus. there is no proof here, other than the lucky fisherman’s testimony, and he is just sharing what he remembers.
GabbyD,
You might be surprised at how this story will now find its way into the schools by way of textbooks and study materials. Among public schools for example there is a popular biweekly printed supplement that is mailed and emailed to school teachers for distribution to students. This kind of story gets quite a wide circulation in the most surprising of places, like high school science classes, public fora and the general public. Along of course with the rest of the crapola printed in the newspaper, tsismis, supernaturalism, showbiz, entertainment news, etc.
Just because we like the idea of “ecotourism” doesn’t mean a newspaper should be peddling fairy tales.
DJB,
As fairytale as it sounds, it is clear that somehow, a fisherman who was out at sea was saved by someone, unless he’s really just fabricating his story out of thin air.
However, fishermen’s lore is rich with stories of large sea turtles or whales or dolphins bringing them ashore to safety, and it is not unlikely that while the stories might not be entirely true, there would be a basis for it. Remember that mermaids have, in reality, actually probably been dugongs and seacows seen from afar, nursing their young much like humans do.
As such, I’m starting to regret using that story as my intro to this article, as focusing on it is absolutely off topic.
@ DJB on December 18th, 2008 4:57 pm
its called a human interest story. As long as its not being misrepresented as established science, its fine if everyone and his mother reads it. Also its fun to read and write about funny, strange things. [parenthetically, i'm surprised i have to explain the human interest story]
if its a science class saying that “dolphins save people in the wild” is a matter of fact, then i’ve got problems. But that is the problem of the publisher of the printed supplement, or to the science teaching establishment. Having said that, dolphins in captivity are very smart and can be trained to do a variety of amazing things.
@Karl
thats fine. its just an intro, and most got the point… i want to research the cost of going to the different RP major dive spots, and how it compares to our neighbors…
GabbyD,
Errr, were you talking to me when you said @Karl? LOL.
There are excellent Dive Guide books out there; if you want a comparative one, I guess it’s nice to start with this book:
“Diving Southeast Asia: A Guide to the best dive sites in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand”
http://www.amazon.com/Diving-Southeast-Asia-Indonesia-Philippines/dp/079460076X/ref=pd_sim_b_3
And there’s also “The Dive Sites of the Philippines”
http://www.amazon.com/Dive-Sites-Philippines/dp/0844248630
Jon,
What are we saying here? That it’s okay for the newspaper to make stuff up or portray stuff that sounds an awful lot like it was made up or imagined, as a “human interest” story?
It isn’t like they are just telling some interesting experience. They are making a claim about animal behavior that is quite remarkable. Whether this is a science class or not is irrelevant since we are clearly talking about a newspaper.
It’s a feel good story — like a fable — but based on a fishy story. Is this okay with us??
Excuse me, but aren’t there enough “real life” stories to tell? Isn’t fact even stranger than fiction?
Just because Mayor Hagedorn has made a career of promoting ecotourism doesn’t mean we should give the newspaper a pass to publish bromide stories like this.
Gabby,
Surely I’m not saying that PDI is misrepresenting itself as the publication Nature or Scientfic American. But the article’s presentation both online and in print does not give one the impression that this is a literary or artistic fiction. It makes claims that, if true, ought to BE the subject of scientific investigation and verification. It presents events as though they were factual, even if there is journalistic deniability that this is just the claim of one person. Yet, if this was a story about a govt official or other controversial matter, would the paper give such a “benefit of the doubt” to one testimony without trying to verify or test its veracity.
@jon
sorri. nagkamali. si DJB, nagkamali rin, so patas lang… hehehe….
DJB,
Absolutely not. I guess we better pursue your gripes elsewhere though, like your blog, or where someone from the Inquirer actually hears about your doubts and, hopefully, takes it up to really verify what had happened.
jon,
haha! no way. I’m not a control freak for tabloid newspapers. U can’t stop what is their natural right to make money while insulting people’s intelligence.
My gripes are fine just the way they are. I don’t need to have “someone from the Inquirer” hear them, thank you.
jon,
my grandpa was saved by a big sea turtle when his banca capsized.
It allowed my grandpa to hold on to its back while it swimmed ashore.
Cat,
I would keep that to myself, as people might think you’re mad for believing your grandfather… especially if the Inquirer publishes it. Hehehe!
Oh Jon,
it’s time for our government to look into this further especially the lame duck representatives of leyte. Locals need training to care for dolphins and whales. Yes,lots of beauty in our islands but that beauty are not quiet maintained for the whole country. More training and employment for those folks and the government will have no excuse to isolate the rest. :)
i watched reruns of Flipper when i was a kid,and Flipper always protected the humans against sharks.
as to the tales of survivals regarding dolphins saving a surfer from sharks:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21689083/
for the bugtos in the middle of the ocean,let me check :
in some of my readings crustaceans go deep in the morning to avoid being eaten by fish.
I dunno that does not tell much.
The Ca t,
I have no reason off hand to doubt your grandfather’s story. But suppose he was also a prominent member of the Turtles Rights Preservation Organization and the chairman of his NGO just issued a public statement saying his life was saved probably because the turtles are grateful for his great good work at TRPO. Then the whole thing is published by Turtle Magazine Monthly.
Wouldn’t you agree that the story might attract skeptical reactions and ought to be better vetted before publication?
Look, I also know a great animal-saves-man story. Last year an Australian climber had broken his leg on Mt. Everest, high up on the mountain where his companions had literally left him for dead. Even he knew the rule: they would die if they tried to help him. Days later, after having been pronounced dead on the mountain, he arrived at their base camp, saved and dragged down by a willing moose or elk that just happened to saunter by.
This happens to be a true story. But suppose he arrives at base camp claiming a whole herd of reindeer came to save him, and two giant elk, on either side of him escorted him home, well, that might not fly too well, especially if nobody else sees the remarkably altruistic wild animals and he happened to be involved in work to protect the reindeer.
Am I being too cynical? Too unwilling to suspend belief in the fish story for the sake of green eco tourism?
thong,
It appears to me that the national government, the DOT specifically, had been doing a good if not wonderful job of promoting tourism in the Philippines.
As for local governments, it’s a matter of competition amongst themselves — ergo, each local government should do what it can to promote eco-tourism as a means of livelihood vis-a-vis a sustainable program to make their provinces and locales more accessible and attractive to tourists.
I’ve seen Puerto Princesa, Bohol, Donsol, and Davao succeed in such initiatives. Looks like Camarines Sur is succeeding in its efforts too. Why Leyte has no such initiative/program (or maybe they do, but we don’t know) should be looked into.
Instead of bringing your money out to shopping in Hong Kong or going to Disneyland or Ocean Park, check out the real fish in the real ocean. Experience the beauty of the countryside-
I agree! There was in initiative of GMA a few years back urging people to travel the tourist destinations. The entire country needs support and exposure via ecotourism not just the dive sites. Kailan kaya magiging eco friendly and Metro Manila?
Eco-friendliness is an everyday way of life, entails responsibility from water use to helping reduce carbon emission, and even maintenance of good health. We don’t need to bite every spending/consumerism hype to be eco-friendly. Planting what you can plant now, recycling your waste as much as you can (paper recycling to composting), and using gasoline less are already “small” ways of being true eco-friends.
Jon’s article I guess wasn’t about eco-friendliness but more on leveraging a sound environment to provide sustainable economic growth in the countryside. But keeping your money elsewhere, it wont help the countryside provide alternatives aside from fishing and farming. By spending a small amount of your wealth to enjoy the countrysides, the effects could be lasting.
P50 spent on a road side eatery when you tour in the provinces will really go a long long way. We may not be able to grasp it, money is what makes this world turning.
I agree though that being eco-friendly should be a way of life to everyone.