The demarcation of the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape’s boundaries will be finished before the year ends.
According to Viernov Grefalde, Tañon Strait Protected Seascape (TSPS) superintendent, the technical team composed of surveyors, engineers and personnel from the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) were setting up anchoring markers on the seabed to help local government units strengthen the environment initiatives to arrest marine degradation in the area.
Grefalde also reported that the TSPS Cebu Site Management Unit (SMU) collected P7,499,804.00 from applications and other fees of Special Use Agreement for Protected Areas (SAPA) in the Tañon Strait.
The collection from January until Sept. 2012 amounted to P7,499,804.
In a meeting last Oct. 22, the SMU also discussed the composition of the TSPS Executive Committee members and deliberated new SAPA applications.
Of the three applications, only Puerto del Sur of Liloan in Santander town was approved.
The SAPA applications from the municipalities of Samboan and Aloguinsan were deferred since they had no representation during the meeting.
Tañon Strait is the body of seawater in between the islands of Cebu and Negros. The strait connects the Visayas Sea to the Bohol Sea.
The strait has a total coastline of 452.7 km. and a total area of 3,108.00 square kilometers. It is relatively deep with the deepest at 509 meters. Its coast is sharply sloping and fringe with reefs.
It is a major fishing ground in the Visayas. However environmental degradation resulted in reduced fish catch in the area, according to studies by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
It has been designated a protected seascape in 1992 under the National Integrated Protected Areas System and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). /Carmel Loise Matus, Correspondent