Where does the rubbish go??

Having lived in Lungsodaan, Southern Leyte since 2005 I am wondering when the local government of Padre Burgos is going to provide a properly managed rubbish collection and environmentally friendly rubbish / waste dump.

The nature of buying patterns in the Philippines, mainly buying short-term / small quantities, generates huge quantities of (mainly) plastic packaging. Huge population growth in recent years has compounded the problem, not only through more people generating more rubbish. With so many babies being born, huge numbers of largely plastic baby-nappies (diapers) are consumed.

Most of the rubbish generated by the local population in Southern Leyte ends-up in the sea!

We have all heard of the huge mass of rubbish collecting in the north-central Pacific Ocean. Much of it has probably drifted there from the Philippines! http://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/ocean-trash-plaguing-our-sea OK. An exaggeration. But we have our own ecological disaster under-way, right here in Sogod Bay and surrounds.

The Padre Burgos Municipality has natural beauty in it's undersea Coral Reefs and marine life. Scuba Divers and Whale-shark Tourists come here from around the world. There presence greatly helps the local economy by providing employment, fees from the MPA's, customers for the restaurants & shops and spending on local produce.

But this Tourism generated income is under threat!

The fact is that most, if not all, of the rubbish from all of the towns around Sogod Bay gets washed down the rivers and creeks onto the beaches and Corals all along the coast of Lungsodaan, Santa Sofia, Tankaan and even Limasawa Island.

Not only does this rubbish get washed up on the beaches (we collect huge amounts of rubbish from the beach every week) and lays along the roads and streets throughout the community. The rubbish collects and builds-up on the Coral Reefs through-out the bay

How do our Foreign Tourists see our community?

Foreign Tourists come from environmentally aware countries, where effective rubbish collection is enforced and education about the damage caused to the environment by careless disposal of our packaging is the norm. They are, frankly, shocked that Filipinos care so little about their Tropical Paradise.

Scuba divers spend their valuable time and big-money come to the Philippines and Southern Leyte to enjoy the natural underwater beauty of the Coral Reefs and enjoy the marine life. What they find is diminished marine life through over-fishing caused by gill-net fishing, damaged Corals caused by the use of fish-traps (Bobos) and, even more sadly, nets and rubbish strangling the Coral Reefs and killing the marine animals (see our other Blog entries on these problems).

What are scuba shop operators to says to our guests when they surface, after a 1- hour dive over the Sogod Bay Coral Reefs, with pockets full of rubbish they have been compelled to salvage from the reefs? We can only explain that the local community does not yet fully understand the environmental damage they are causing and their Governments have not yet taken the necessary action to provide effective waste disposal.

But these excuses cannot prevent these visitors from asking themselves... "should I find a place to visit and scuba dive where I will not be collecting more garbage than enjoyment"?

But the locals residents cannot be really be blamed for this situation.

Local residents have damaging buying practises because of their economic situation. This can only be overcome through wealth creation; and that is a different issue. But residents could be educated by government about the issues of rubbish in the environment and this could (and should) be done - with little cost involved.

But if people were to stop dropping their rubbish in the streets, what are they to do with what they pocket and take home to add to their domestic rubbish? The real problem is there is no effective domestic rubbish collection in the communities and no Province-wide waste disposal system in place. Surely the Southern Leyte Government needs to lead the way and provide an environmentally friendly system of waste collection and disposal?

In Summary...

The population grows every year and nothing seems to be done to provide effective and environmentally friendly rubbish collection and disposal. Surely, Tourism development in Southern Leyte will be seriously affected if the local, municipal and Provincial governments do not act soon, in a coordinated way, to remove rubbish from the streets, beaches and Coral Reefs around Sogod Bay.

Lungsodaan MPA

Rubbish collected in one week

No rubbish collection ??? They have been promising for 6 years

Santa Sofia MPA

Fish traps (Bobo's)

Bamboo fish-traps, known locally as Bobos, are a very destructive fishing method that is slowly destroying the coral reefs of Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte.

What are the local government and fisheries departments doing about this problem?

I have been watching the increased use of fish traps in the Lungsodaan and Padre Burgos areas over the past 5 years. They appear to have doubled in number. Perhaps in part due to the dramatic increase in the local population, perhaps in part by lack of enforcement of existing regulations.

The bamboo fish trap smashes everything when dumped onto the Coral.

I have watched the ongoing destruction of Georgian fans, Green-tree Coral, Table Corals and even soft Corals from this fishing method. The bamboo fish trap smashes everything in its path when dumped onto the Coral Reef. That is already significant damage. But it is not the worst of the damage inflicted on the reef.

Swinging Bobo ropes destroy anything standing in it's path.

These traps normally have a long rope which is attached to a large rock in the shallows for easy retrieval later. This rope swings back and forth with the tidal-currents and wind-driven wave surge; sometimes swinging over a wide area, knocking-over Corals or scraping away other marine life in it's path; such as sponges and anemonies.

The fisherman simply don't seem to understand the destruction.

The fisherman seem to have no idea what damage and destruction they are inflicting upon the Corals and other marine life below. They simply don't seem to understand how they are damaging their own livelihood.

The Coral Reefs are the critical environment required for a healthy reef-fish population. Without the Coral Reefs there will be no reef-fish. Without the reef-fish population there will be no visiting pelagic fish (so revered by the fishermen for sale to local markets). No reef - no reef-fish, no reef-fish - no pelagic fish!

The use of Bobos must be restricted.

The use of Bobos must at the very least be restricted to areas where there are no existing Coral Reefs. If the use of Bobos is not controlled soon, the beautiful Coral Reefs of Sogod Bay will disappear; along with the fish population they support.

The Philippine fisheries department and local governments should take action now, by enforcing existing laws to control the use of these destructive bamboo fish traps. Before its to late!

Meanwhile the Philippine Government should look at passing and enforcing more adequate laws and penalties to prevent the ongoing destruction of Coral Reefs in this country.