Dive Ranger Padre Burgos

In 2012 the Municipality of Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte, Philippines established the new Position of Dive Ranger to help protect the area's abundant and pristine Coral Reefs; especially within the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) scattered around the Municipality's coastal waters.

The position of Dive Ranger is under the direct supervision of the Municipality of Padre Burgos' Agriculturalist, under the Department of Agriculture. The Municipality Mayor has been instrumental in ensuring the new position is given the funding, scope and authority necessary to "make a difference".

Arnold Beslig, aged 40, is the first ever holder of the Dive Ranger position within the Municipality. He is locally born, raised and educated and his related experience includes various work with Barangay Lungsodaan and other Local Government Units (LGUs), known locally as Barangays, as well as more than four years of direct experience with a long-established local Scuba Dive Shop operation.

The roll of Municipality Dive Ranger has already been effective in three key ways.

First, Arnold has participated in many seminars with the Barangays to explain the scope of his new position and the need to enforce Philippine Government rules that are in place to protect the Coral Reefs. A key part of this protection, along with MPA Wardens, is to use the Barangay Police to provide 27 x 7 supervision of the MPA's and coastal waters in an effort to prevent illegal fishing practices.

Second, he has directly observed the scuba diving activities of the many "transient" scuba dive boats that periodically visit the Municipalities' waters; bringing scuba divers from dive shops outside the area. These transients include "safari" and "live-aboard" operations which, like local dive shop operators, are required to pay fees to dive within the Sanctuaries. These fees are an important source of revenue to help fund the Coral Reef protection activities.

Third, the Dive Ranger has represented the Municipality by participating in specific Coral Reef protection and rehabilitation projects. Two of these projects currently ongoing in the Municipality in 2012 are the Crown of Thorns plague alleviation project and the Coral Reef Restoration project (read more about these elsewhere in this blog).

Congratulations to the Municipality of Padre Burgos on establishing the new role of Dive Ranger; demonstrating it's commitment and foresight with respect to sustainable fishing practises, Coral Reef protection and rejuvenation and scuba dive tourism.