Duka Bay: An ecological business paradigm

Investing in ecological ventures like restoring the coral reef cover of Gingoog Bay in Misamis Oriental is one very fluid venture whose fruits can be reaped not in pesos but in how future generations would be able to enjoy one of the country’s best dive sites.

Duka Bay’s Acantasia project is aimed at restoring the glorious coral cover of the Gingoog Bay using a technology known as coral transplanting which is done by obtaining coral fragments as planting materials from the old coral growths.

Coral transplanting also helps in bringing a balance between soft and hard corals so that they would not eat up into each other’s areas thereby causing a depletion of one in the process, explained Duka Bay’s main diver Eduardo S. Yap.

Gingoog Bay and the adjoining Butuan Bay have been destroyed through centuries of abuse like illegal fishing, dynamite fishing, compressor fishing with cyanides and other poisonous fishing methods, trawl fishing (the scrapes the corals and other seabed materials) and the use of fine-meshed nets where even the smallest fish are caught even before they could mature.

Duka Bay Resort Inc.– owned by Ernesto "Bong Pelaez (son of the late vice president Emmanuel Pelaez), Yap and other partners, mostly divers – has been one of the prime movers in the rehabilitation of the bay.

Packaged as a "seaside sanctuary," Duka Bay is accessible through Cagayan de Oro or Butuan by land from within Mindanao or by plane from Metro Manila.

Marine Biologist Lemuel Alfeche, conceptualizer and implementor of the Acantasia project of Duka Bay, said the bio-regeneration of corals in Duka Bay have started in 2000 while the succeeding coral transplantation was started "not by design but by accident."

He said that previous attempts at coral transplantation failed because they were swept by tidal currents and the substrates used were not calcium bicarbonate but were too light and easily carried away by currents.

Economic benefits

Not only is the Duka Bay Resort Inc. and its allied business, the Duka Bay Divers Shop, earning from this ecological restoration experience. The local fisherfolk, who serve as tourist guides, are also raking in revenues from the use of their bancas by divers and from being a tourist guide. "This income far exceeds what they used to earn from their destructive fishing activities," Alfeche said.

The local community, formerly skeptical about the coral reef rehabilitation project, is now convinced that revenues can be made from environmental restoration and conservation.

"With this experience, environmentalists and other lobby groups have better chances of disseminating environmental restoration and protection techniques to other communities such as Marine Protected Areas or fish sanctuary technologies, that are now gaining acceptance in coastal communities throughout the country," Alfeche said.

But apart from its ecological advocacy, Duka Bay packages itself as an ideal place for family outings, company team building and conferences and a hotspot for incentive groups looking to reward their deserving employees. For this, Duka Bay’s large meeting rooms of 150 persons or more is ideal for entertaining and meeting in groups.

A standard bedroom is P1,995; junior suite is P2,495 and executive suite is P3,200. An extra P300 is charged for more than two occupants.

Aqua sports facilities include: kayak (single is P200 per hour and double P250 per hour); aquabike (P280 per hour); wooden banca P250 per hour; glass bottom boat (for 10 persons at most) P400 per trip; snorkeling (with complete facilities) P280 for two hours and scuba diving (with complete facilities and certified divers).

Duka Bay also offers group packages for seminars, weddings and birthdays. Pelaez said the efforts of President Arroyo to promote domestic tourism through extended weekends are paying off with more visitors coming from surrounding Mindanao provinces frequenting Duka Bay.

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Duka Bay Resorts Inc.
Medina, Misamis Oriental
Phone : 088-3312499