Cebu Daily News / Visayas

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/cebudailynews/visayas/view_article.php?article_id=203009

Guimaras fishers learn new skills Cebu Daily News Posted date: May 04, 2009 IT’S THE strange case of the fishermen being like fish out of water. The fishermen of this small paradise are pinning their hopes on livelihood projects like handicrafts and agriculture to bring their lives back on track after the Aug. 11, 2006 oil spill. But the fishermen of Guimaras are not complaining. After the desperation they experienced due to the loss of a big chunk of their livelihood after the oil spill, the small tragedy is that they will take anything that comes their way. In the early hours of Aug. 11, 2006, the cool blue-green waters on the south side of the island were polluted after the MV Solar 1 tanker operated by Sunshine Maritime Development Corp. sank, spilling 2.1 million liters of industrial bunker fuel. They had never seen anything like the oil spill. The accident changed their lives. Agustin Magluyan, 44, has been a fisherman all his life. A resident of Buenavista on the northern side of Guimaras, Agustin fished off the waters of barangay Dagsaan. He remembers the day of the oil spill clearly. When he pushed off his boat to fish, he noticed that the sea was unusually black. His catch for that day was all dead fish. He learned about the oil spill later from other fishermen. “The first thing I thought was how would my family eat without any fish in the sea.” As the days passed, he saw his usual take of P300 a day vanish. “My children were crying because of hunger,” Magluyan, a father of four, said. In desperation, he turned to planting sweet potato in the uplands and managed to tide his family over. Magluyan still fishes as much as he can these days. But when he stays ashore, he makes the one kilometer trek upland to the livelihood site where fishermen were taught to make animal statues out and weave baskets out of bamboo. A bamboo statue sells from P200 to P350 while a basket sells for P60. The fishermen from Magluyan’s area were also taught to plant medicinal plants like lagundi and lemon grass. Alicia Lustica, Department of Environment and Natural Resources Regional Technical Director, said the government would make sure the livelihood projects for the affected fishermen would succeed. /Inquirer