Guimaras site closes door to tourists

MARINE SANCTUARY Starting June, the flow of people visiting Igang Marine Station in Guimaras province will be controlled to avoid disrupting fish breeding there. —REX DELSAR B. DIANALA

ILOILO CITY — Another top tourism site in Western Visayas region is taking a breather from visitors, taking a cue from Boracay Island in Aklan province which was shut down for a six-month environmental rehabilitation.

The Igang Marine Station in Nueva Valencia town, on the southwest portion of Guimaras Island, will be closed to tourists starting June to avoid disrupting the spawning performance of large fish breeders, according to the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (Seafdec), which manages the area.

Marine reserve

The research station, composed of several islets interconnected by foot bridges and fish cages, is a popular tourist destination for island hoppers visiting Guimaras, especially because it is close to the popular Taklong Island National Marine Reserve managed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Records showed that 14,866 tourists visited the Seafdec facility last year. In 2016, the station received 15,227 visitors, while 12,605 people visited the site in 2015.

Mateo Yap, Igang Marine Station head, said Seafdec is intensifying its breeding programs to provide more fry to fish growers.

Seafdec officials said at least 16 giant grouper breeders, with weights ranging from 20 to 50 kilograms, kept in the station might be disturbed by people who visit mainly to see these.

Breeders

Peter Palma, a project staff working on the grouper, said the breeders were not spawning as expected and by limiting visitors, they hoped to “factor out the effect of noise, unnecessary movements in cages, to focus on experiments and determine the reason for the nonspawning of the fish.”

Yap said to accommodate the request of Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol for more “bangus” (milkfish) fry, Seafdec aims to at least triple the current 52 milkfish breeders in the station.

“We will be bringing in more fish so it’s important that they will not be stressed,” Yap said.

Aside from grouper and milkfish, the station is also home to pompano, sea bass, snapper and abalone breeders.

Injured turtles found around Guimaras are also given refuge in the fish cages, along with giant clams and other marine animals.

The Igang Marine Station was established in 1974, primarily for studies on the breeding of tiger shrimp in pens.