Caring for the Whales and Dolphins of Bohol Province and the Philippines

Caring for the Whales and Dolphins of Bohol Province and the Philippines

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Pamilacan Island Boat Operators and Spotters Association (PIBOSA), Inc.

Welcome to the online home of the Pamilacan Island Boat Operators and Spotters Association. We hope that through this website we maybe able to inform the world that we in Bohol, the Philippines have already change our outlook towards the marine mammals.

Whale hunting has been a tradition that has been handed down to us by our ancestors. Aside from whales, we have been kiling also dolphins, whale sharks and manta rays for generations.

For the past decades, we have observed the declined in the number of marine mammals as well as the whale sharks and manta rays that passes through the Bohol Strait.

In 1997, when the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) introduced to us the Pamilacan Island Dolphin and Whale Watching Integrated Village Development Program) we feel hesitant as this might kill our livelihood in the island. And true to our fears, while WWF-Philippines was implimenting the Programme, whale shark and manta rays was also ban by the Philippine Government in March 25, 1998.

The ban was carried out without impunity and we loss our livelihood. Some of our members were even penalized and jailed for several days in Cebu for catching whale sharks a few weeks after it was disallowed by the government. The law was implemented with out the benefit of consultation among the affected community of fishers. It was only done as a precautionary measure.

We feel as it was the end of the world already. There was no alternative livelihood offered to us. Our children was forced to quit from school as we could anymore support the needs of our children. The families was shattered, either the husband or the wife has to leave the the conjugal home to look for some odd jobs in the far away Metro Manila, the Philippines capital city.

Be that as it may, WWF-Philippines presence in Pamilacan for three years has awaken our senses on the importance of the marine mammals both on the maintenance of the healthy marine environment. That dolphins and whales are worth seeing alive than being killed.

Right now, we have already earned some income derived from the operation of the island tours and the dolphin and whale watching tours. These only proved that human can always live in harmony with nature.

This site will present our organization's cause or ideas to the world. As communicating isn't always easy, we'll try to include photos and images that convey our message (remember, a well-chosen picture is a great way to get a point across). We'll also include specific information about our organization and its members, so no one forgets the people behind the pictures.

On this home page, we'll introduce our cause or message. We'll also try to include a picture or two that represents the kind of work we do.

Pygme Blue Whale

Sorry our site is under contruction. Please come back again latter.

Daghang Kaayong Salamat.

Mission Statement

To ensure people get the right idea, we'll include a brief statement here that describes our organization. We'll tell people what we want to accomplish and exactly how we plan to do it.