The need to patrol the Visayan Sea

I literally spent the first day of work after my long motorcycle trip looking at the back issues of our local and national dailies. That's because when you're on the road on a motorcycle, reading newspapers isn't one of the things you could do while riding. That's why I call this my "Ipod moment" because that's the time you can listen to all the music you crammed on that little white music wonder gadget.

We left Cebu in turbulent times because it was when our good friend, the late Elpidio "Jojo" dela Victoria was shot. By the time we left, he wasn't even buried yet. But how could we forget the cause that Jojo died for - to preserve the Visayan seas from being over fished. Call it a coincidence that on our way back to Cebu, we took the Super Ferry 16, which put us right smack in the middle of the Visayan seas where we could see those commercial fishing trawlers near Tanguingi and Guintarcan islands, off the northern coast of Bantayan island.

Perhaps the best treat for all those who traveled on the Super Ferry 16 last Monday was when we passed through the northern tip of Cebu, close to the Capitancillo Island and saw a school of dolphins playfully racing with another ferryboat, which was passing by our port side going the opposite direction. Tourists pay a lot of money just to see dolphins jump out of a swimming pool. But in the Visayan seas, they jump with joy for all to see, for free!

We did see a few dolphins when we crossed from Calapan to Batangas and let me tell you that I've done a lot of travel on ferry boats, but frankly speaking, I really don't know why we're seeing a lot of dolphins lately? Perhaps it's God's way of reminding us to preserve their habitat because these days, it is threatened by unchecked commercial fishing.

I'm glad that a marine sanctuary will soon be named after Jojo dela Victoria in Bantayan Island. But more important than just naming a marine sanctuary for a fallen hero, is the agreement in principle with Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia with the Visayan Sea Squadron, on their responsibility in the protection and conservation of marine resources, which Gov. Gwen said, "to translate the thousand words into concrete action." To be perfectly honest, Gov. Gwen is taking a lot of responsibility here and given the huge expanse of the Visayan sea, this is going to be a daunting task.

Guarding the Visayan seas from those that seek to destroy it is a reality we face today. I was recently told that someone built a privately-owned fish sanctuary in front his vacation home on the beach in San Remigio and in less than two years, this area is now teeming with marine life. But one day, men who didn't make an effort to hide their long arms came along and went fishing at their pleasure. Eventually, those men dropped a dynamite in this fish sanctuary. This was reported to the San Remigio police, but we don't know what happened, whether these people were caught at all.

But Gov. Gwen is a woman of all trades, a diver and a techno freak who uses technology to achieve efficiency. Allow me to tell her that a friend of ours, Mr. Antonio Mendoza of Mactan builds or manufactures a specialized kind of aircraft for the US Military and exports these planes to the United States. These planes are built in Mactan and are known as a Remotely-Piloted Vehicle (RPV), which are basically a radio-controlled airplane, which is crammed with video and other sensing devices, like an infrared sensor.

If you ask me, this is exactly what the Cebu Aeromodeler's Club is doing, flying those radio-controlled planes for fun at the Mandaue Reclamation. My brother Rene told me that they can help train anyone to handle these airplanes at a fraction of the cost of a real plane. That means, these planes can patrol the huge expanse of the Visayan seas and report any illegal activity on real time. Now all that we need is a rapid reaction force (preferably a real plane or a helicopter) that would swoop down on illegal fishers. That means putting the Navy and the Coast Guard to do their job!

Best of all, we don't need to import those airplanes, just ask our local builder to make a few and allow our hobbyists to shift from just having fun to training those who will help patrol the Visayan seas. We can also do some kind of networking, asking pilots of small planes to report any suspicious sightings of illegal activity. Believe me, when these commercial fishers realize that we are dead serious in our effort to save the Visayan seas, they might just sail away to places where they can poach without being stopped. We do live in exciting times and everyone should be on the lookout to save our environment, especially God's gift to us, the Visayan Sea.

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