Blue Alliance Philippines

Blue Alliance Philippines We co-manage MPAs with governments and communities to protect marine biodiversity and improve local livelihoods in the Philippines

Octopus is one of the few coastal fisheries with a natural reset button. Close the season at the right time, and the pop...
21/08/2026

Octopus is one of the few coastal fisheries with a natural reset button. Close the season at the right time, and the population can recover, provided the habitat stays intact and fishers actually observe the closure. That second condition is usually the harder one.

Blue Alliance Philippines and EPSON, a corporate partner supporting marine conservation in the area, carried out a joint site visit to the Cambari and Era Reef marine protected areas in Araceli, a coastal municipality in northern Palawan, to check how the seasonal octopus fishery closure is being implemented on the water.

The visit continues an ongoing effort to work with local stakeholders on timely closures, which support ecosystem recovery and give households a fishery worth returning to each season rather than one pushed into absolute decline.



Blue Alliance

A Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC) is the structure that keeps a Marine Protected Area (MPA) from depending entirel...
30/07/2026

A Stakeholders Advisory Committee (SAC) is the structure that keeps a Marine Protected Area (MPA) from depending entirely on one organization or one administration.

By bringing together the local government unit, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police, fishing communities, and conservation partners, the SAC creates a formal platform where decisions can be made collaboratively and carried forward over time. Research on long-term MPA effectiveness consistently identifies multi-stakeholder governance as a key factor in ensuring conservation efforts endure beyond individual projects or personnel.

Mamburao recently convened its SAC, with the Municipal Administrator representing the Mayor alongside the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO), Tourism Office, Planning Office, the Philippine National Police municipal chief, and the Philippine Coast Guard sub-station commander. During the meeting, the 2026 workplan was presented and the secretariat was established, with MENRO, MAO, and Blue Alliance serving as its members.

Shortly afterward, Calintaan convened its own SAC. The committee reviewed the 2026 workplan, which includes MPA inspection schedules, the Basic Fisheries Law Enforcement Training (BFLET), the Bantay Dagat deputation ceremony, and the process of updating the municipality's fisheries ordinance. Sea turtle conservation was also formally incorporated into the workplan, a fitting addition for a municipality that has adopted the Olive Ridley turtle as its flagship species.

Two municipalities, each strengthening the governance needed to ensure decisions about their reefs outlast any single administration.



Blue Alliance

Two things came out of the recent Sablayan-Calintaan MPA Network meeting that are worth addressing separately.Blue Allia...
28/07/2026

Two things came out of the recent Sablayan-Calintaan MPA Network meeting that are worth addressing separately.
Blue Alliance Philippines was formally recognized as an official member of the Sablayan-Calintaan Marine Protected Areas Network (SACA-MPAN) Executive Committee and Technical Working Group by resolution of the body.

This places Blue Alliance Philippines inside the governance structure of the network as a standing member with a defined role in decisions and not just as a visiting partner. Building that kind of institutional permanence has been a long-term objective and reflects years of sustained engagement with the Local Government Units of Sablayan and Calintaan.

Separately, the meeting raised an urgent conservation concern: sea turtle mortalities are rising across the region. As of May 2026, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has recorded 12 deaths spanning Sablayan, Calintaan, Santa Cruz, and San Jose. DENR and Community Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO) are leading the response, with Blue Alliance in a support role.

The body passed resolutions to invite Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to a special meeting, launch Information Education Communication activities across Local Government Units and stakeholder groups, and reinforce enforcement of laws protecting marine turtles. Calintaan's role here is significant; the municipality is a critical nesting ground for Olive Ridley sea turtles and has declared them its flagship species.

What happens in Sablayan and Calintaan's waters carries consequences well beyond its boundaries.



Blue Alliance

All five sea turtle species found in Philippine waters are protected under Philippine law. Four of the five remain liste...
23/07/2026

All five sea turtle species found in Philippine waters are protected under Philippine law. Four of the five remain listed in threatened categories by the IUCN, with the hawksbill turtle classified as Critically Endangered. In 2025, the green turtle's global IUCN status was updated to Least Concern, a rare conservation success story, though regional populations in Southeast Asia face continued pressure.

Nesting season is when these animals are most vulnerable, and the beaches of Mindoro are among their nesting grounds. What happens to a nest in the hours after it is laid, whether eggs are protected, whether a threat is recognized and reported, depends almost entirely on whoever is already on those shores.

This week, Bantay Dagat fish wardens, Blue Alliance Key Ocean Defenders, Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (MFARMC) members, and Local Government Unit staff from across Oriental and Occidental Mindoro trained in sea turtle nest identification, nest management, and hatchling handling. The men and women who received this training are the same ones patrolling these coastlines every day.

Conservation knowledge is most effective when it lives with the people closest to the resource, in this case, the sea.



Blue Alliance

Taytay Bay in northeastern Palawan is ecologically significant and difficult to cover. It has more coastline than any si...
21/07/2026

Taytay Bay in northeastern Palawan is ecologically significant and difficult to cover. It has more coastline than any single enforcement team can effectively patrol, and the waters are under pressure.

When conservation organisations work overlapping geographies without coordinating, the result can be wasted effort and coverage gaps. Neither the reef nor the communities around it benefit from that arrangement.

Blue Alliance and the Sulubaai Environmental Foundation met in Sandoval, Taytay to build a different approach. Sulubaai focuses on Sharkfin Bay while Blue Alliance covers the rest of Taytay Bay adjacent to El Nido. Both groups will sit on the local enforcement task force, collaborate on revising the municipal fisheries ordinance, work on strengthening the Municipal Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Council (MFARMC), and coordinate on biophysical assessments.

A quarterly alignment meeting was agreed upon to keep communication current.



Blue Alliance Sulubaaï Foundation

In 2023, the Philippines lost an estimated 45,000 metric tons of fish to overfishing, illegal fishing, and weak enforcem...
14/07/2026

In 2023, the Philippines lost an estimated 45,000 metric tons of fish to overfishing, illegal fishing, and weak enforcement, according to a University of the Philippines Visayas assessment commissioned by Oceana. That is roughly the same loss, every single year, going back to 2010. One of the factors researchers consistently identify is the gap between laws that exist and laws that can actually be enforced on the water.

A fisheries ordinance is the foundational document of local enforcement. When it is outdated or legally imprecise, the entire chain from patrol to warning to legal action loses its footing. In Calintaan, updating the existing ordinance has been a priority since the 10-year co-management agreement was signed.

This week, the Mindoro Team joined the Municipal Council's Committee on Agriculture as resource persons for the review process. Four councillors, the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office (MENRO), MAO, Fisheries Extension Officer, and representatives from the Planning Office formed an interim review committee and began working through the ordinance template section by section.

Mayor Eric Labrador will formalize Blue Alliance's membership in the committee by executive order. The council is targeting September for legislation.

A current and up to date ordinance signals something beyond legal compliance. It tells Bantay Dagat officers, fishing communities, and anyone caught violating the rules that the municipality stands behind its MPA commitments.



Blue Alliance

Marine enforcement in the Philippines involves multiple agencies operating across overlapping jurisdictions. The Philipp...
09/07/2026

Marine enforcement in the Philippines involves multiple agencies operating across overlapping jurisdictions. The Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime team, the Philippine Coast Guard, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), and Local Government Unit (LGU) offices each carry their own patrol logs and their own picture of what is happening on the water. When those pictures do not connect, violations fall between the gaps.

Blue Alliance introduced the Earth Ranger platform to all of these groups in Sablayan: BFAR, the PNP Maritime Law Enforcement Team, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the LGU's environment and agriculture offices. Facilitated by Blue Allinace’s Earth Ranger IT Specialist Jerlan Loresto, via video conference and assisted by Mindoro Enforcement Officer Raffy Perez, all units received a full app walkthrough and now have active accounts.

The platform will be used in both independent patrols and joint operations under the interim Sablayan Marine and Fisheries Law Enforcement Task Force. Shared data does not replace patrol capacity, but it closes the information gaps that make enforcement inconsistent. For the fishing communities whose livelihoods depend on the health of these waters, more coordinated enforcement means more effective protection.



Blue Alliance Mayor Walter 'B**g' B. Marquez

Local Government Unit Calintaan and Blue Alliance Philippines have signed a 10-year agreement for the municipality's Mar...
02/07/2026

Local Government Unit Calintaan and Blue Alliance Philippines have signed a 10-year agreement for the municipality's Marine Protected Areas!

The ceremony was witnessed by the Municipal Council, the Philippine Coast Guard, CENRO, MFARMC, and representatives from the fishing communities living alongside Calintaan's four MPAs. It took several months to reach this point with two rounds of council presentations, a committee vote, and a resolution granting Atty. Eric C. Labrador, the municipal mayor, the authority to sign.

The duration of the agreement is not incidental. Research consistently finds that the majority of MPAs globally fall short of their conservation goals, often because legal designation doesn’t always come with the sustained management presence needed to make it real. A 10-year commitment, backed by local government unit authority and an active management partner, changes what is possible for all of Calintaan's reefs.

For the fishing families whose livelihoods depend on these waters, this agreement means their coastline now has a formal, long-term structure behind it.



Blue Alliance

Building the governance infrastructure around a Marine Protected Area (MPA) takes time and requires multiple stakeholder...
30/06/2026

Building the governance infrastructure around a Marine Protected Area (MPA) takes time and requires multiple stakeholders. In Sablayan, sustained engagement between Blue Alliance and the Local Government Unit reached a concrete milestone last March: the municipality's first Fisheries Sectoral Planning workshop.

The room went through the 2023 Integrated Coastal Resource Management (ICRM) Plan and assessed the enforcement situation on their waters. As a result, an action plan now exists for the interim creation of a local fisheries law enforcement task force, and a path toward updating the municipal fisheries ordinance has been defined.

Why the ordinance matters: Blue Alliance's enforcement approach across all partner municipalities begins with education. Bantay Dagat officers engage illegal fishers through a stern warning first, a written warning next, and legal measures only when those have failed. That graduated approach needs a current, legally sound ordinance to stand on. Without one, even a well-delivered warning carries no firm legal weight.



Blue Alliance

The 2017 National Stock Assessment Program of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute found that 87% o...
25/06/2026

The 2017 National Stock Assessment Program of the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute found that 87% of Philippine marine fisheries stocks are now classified as overfished.

Here’s what that means for individual households: the average catch per municipal fisher dropped from 5 kilograms per trip in 2010 to 4 kilograms in 2023. This roughly translates to more time at sea, more fuel used, but ultimately lower yields. Add typhoon season, which runs from June to November, and there are months where going out is simply not possible. Commercial vessel encroachment, sedimentation, coastal development, and climate change all compound the pressure on coastal households.

Blue Alliance develops alternative livelihood programmes that create financial opportunities for coastal communities with that full picture in mind. If the reef cannot reliably sustain a family while it recovers, there need to be other sources of income. Despite the hardships of keeping their projects running, all three of our partner peoples organizations in Puerto Galera: Villaflor, Dulangan, and Tabinay, managed to repay their seed capital ahead of the repayment deadline.

A formal turnover ceremony was held with the Puerto Galera Local Government Unit, coinciding with the visit of UK Special Representative for Nature, Ruth Davis. These are communities under real, compounding economic pressure that transformed opportunity into success through Blue Alliance’s livelihood development programme.



Blue Alliance

Address

Calapan
5200

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Blue Alliance Philippines posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Blue Alliance Philippines:

Shortcuts

Share

Category