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Coastal communities around the world are being subjected to unprecedented changes in the coastal zone from population growth, over-exploitation of fisheries, degradation of coastal ecosystems, and global climate change. These changes are placing communities at increasing risk from coastal hazards such as tsunamis, severe storms, and shoreline erosion. The changes also reduce community resilience to respond to disasters.

To respond to growing demand for coastal services, Tetra Tech has built an impressive base of experience in disaster management and response, coastal management and restoration, and information management and web-based technology.

Tetra Tech has been performing environmental and natural resource management work in the Philippines since 1992 and is in its 10th year of continuous support to the country’s coastal resources management efforts through two prime contracts with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Through the USAID Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) and the follow-on Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvests (FISH) project, Tetra Tech has promoted the sustainable use and management of coastal resources affecting over 2,000 miles of the nation’s coastline.

Tetra Tech has provided state-of-the-art technical assistance and training to more than 300 communities—from small fishing villages to large municipalities—to improve fishery and coral reef habitat management strategies, resulting in greater food security and biodiversity.

CRMP is widely recognized as establishing coastal resource management as a basic service by local government. It built the capacity of national and local government as well as communities to manage marine and coastal ecosystems. The FISH project builds on this foundation to achieve the next crucial benchmark in managing fisheries and coastal resources in the Philippines. This benchmark calls for the development of ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management driven by informed, disciplined, and cooperative stakeholders at national and local levels of engagement. Key outcomes from Tetra Tech’s work have included:

• Helped establish 70 new marine sanctuaries covering 1,500 hectares of coral reef and sea grass habitat
• Assisted national and local government agencies together with coastal communities in reducing overfishing through the fisheries adoption of registration and licensing programs, habitat protection, and increased enforcement capacity
• Established a monitoring and evaluation system for local and national government agencies that provides a framework for the ongoing planning, evaluation, and improvement of coastal resource management strategies
• Implemented a successful nationwide public awareness and outreach campaign including an award-winning Internet web site (www.oneocean.org) for coastal resources management information and a seven-part video series that is now part of the public school curriculum nationwide

Highlights:
“[Tetra Tech] helped the Philippines develop a state-of-the-art and trailblazing CRM project that significantly places the Philippines in the global map.” —USAID contract performance evaluation

Under the FISH contract, USAID recently awarded Tetra Tech a performance evaluation score of “outstanding,” the highest possible rating, for quality of work. In its evaluation, USAID stated, “One significant output delivered is the Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan, which is unprecedented and a major landmark that set the direction of the industry for the next 20 years.”

(Photo courtesy of Alan White)

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