School initiates symposium on mangrove conservation

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Concerned about its commitment for community growth and development, the administrator and teachers of the coastal-based Vitali National High School (VNHS) in this city initiated recently a two-day symposium on the conservation and preservation of mangrove at Sitio Logpond in adjacent Barangay Tictapul.

Vitali NHS Principal Rosita Duran-Tagamolila said Vitali, as a school district, comprises the coastal villages of Licomo, Vitali, Limaong, Tictapul, and Mangusu where 90 percent of the fish, crab and prawn needs of Zamboanga City and the adjacent provinces of Zamboanga Peninsula come from. The entire area boasts of close to 1,000 hectares of fishponds. Vitali, some two hours bus ride from the city proper, is Zamboanga’s remotest barangay in the east coast.

Participants to the symposium, Tagamolila said, included local fishpond operators and owners and assistants, barangay officials, teachers, students, policemen and interested community members.

Tagamolila said VNHS invited as symposium speakers fishpond experts from the Zamboanga State College of Marine Sciences and Technology (ZSCMST) headed by Dr. Rosaleo Tenorio, an oceanographer who also serves as college executive director.

Tenorio and other ZSCMST speakers touched on the proper disposal of fishpond garbage and its adverse effects if not properly disposed, as they stressed the significance of rehabilitating the community mangrove to achieve economical balance.