Erico Joseph T. Cañete
KABOG’S STAND ON FEEDING THE WHALE SHARK
KABOG (Kahugpungan sa mga Bol-anong Guides) is a group of tour guides duly accredited by the Department of Tourism and an accredited CSO/NGO in the LGU of Tagbilaran City and in the Provincial Government of Bohol. Embodied in the thrust of the association is the value of responsible stewardship to both cultural heritage and environmental care. The association is steered by the enthusiasm and idealism to promote and preserve Bohol’s tangible and non-tangible culture and care of the bounty of our ecosystem; blessings which attracted both local and international market in the tourism industry. It is a group which considers tour guiding not just a way to earn a living but a way of living hence, the justification of the thrust.
The association does not only show tourists the Boholano’s culture as a real phenomenon (including vernacular houses, Spanish colonial houses, 18th century coral stone churches, blood compact shrine monument inter alia) or the aesthetics behind, but above all, it enables them to see its metaphysics. Through its narrative, Kabog leads the tourists to see those things which cannot be seen in the things that we see like the value and relevance of history, Boholano’s way of expressing their faith, societal phenomena by relating it to the lives of contemporary Boholanos inclusive of the notion of harmony and care of our environment.
Ironically, some investors and public servants of the LGU have difficulty balancing economy and ecology. Disguised by the idealism that tourism is a way to boost the economy of the local community, these individuals are actually besieged and haunted by profiteering at the expense of destroying the environment. Or are they really managed by the LGU itself or by an invisible capitalist, be it foreign or local, to enhance exaggerated capitalism?
One of the abused treasures in Bohol is the exploitation of the gentle giants – whale sharks (butanding). There’s nothing wrong with whale shark interaction as long as it is guided by some basic ecological principles;
(i) Nature knows best. “Whale sharks are migratory species and normally follow the path of nutrient-rich seasonal aggregations of plankton including copepods, krill, fish eggs and crab larvae. They also eat small fish and squid. They rarely reside in one area more than 30 days, a characteristic of a sea gypsy. Now, if you bring these whale sharks outside of their migratory route like bringing them to the shore area baited and fed them with dead krill everyday to make them stay in the feeding area, this would affect their diet for instead of eating nutritious blooms of planktons, they would be eating less natural food that is not complete for their nutritional needs. Eventually, this would affect their lifestyle.”
(ii) Nature has its own way of taking revenge. “Consider too the issue of sanitation of our seawaters or shoreline due to unconsumed dead krill that would pollute the area. It brings adverse effects to other marine resources that may resort to its depletion.”
(iii) Everything is related to everything else. “How about the marginal fishermen whose livelihood is dislodged due to this lucrative business? What about the consumers affected by the scarcity of anchovies because the whale sharks in the feeding area are consuming them? Is the business of whale shark interaction by feeding them compensatory with the benefit of their fishing livelihood and consumers’ welfare?”
In response to the challenge of preservation, the LGU of Baclayon in 2018 approved an ordinance, authored by this representation, Ordinance NO. 01 -2018, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING REGULATIONS FOR THE CONSERVATION OF WHALE SHARKS WITHIN THE MUNICIPAL WATERS OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF BACLAYON. Section 4, Article 3 of this ordinance bans “provisioning or the use of any methods designed to attract marine wildlife including whale sharks, using food (artificial or natural), including, but not limited to, luring, baiting, chumming and feeding.”
It is with this regard that KABOG’s stand on the issue is for responsible whale shark interaction which is in line with Provincial Ordinance No. 2020 – 008 otherwise known as “Sustainable Marine Wildlife Inter Action Ordinance of the Province of Bohol.”
Stop feeding the whale shark! Free them in accordance with the rhythms of their nature and in accordance with their own Agere Sequitur Esse (Activity Follows Being). They too act according to their nature free from any human intervention of exploitation.
This is KABOG’s stand. Be one with us in our fight for responsible tourism thru responsible stewardship over God’s eco cultural gifts to us Boholanos!
Heed the call!