Philippines Coastal Resource Management

Coastal communities worldwide are being subjected to changes in the coastal zone including population growth, overexploitation of fisheries, degradation of coastal ecosystems, and global climate change. These changes are placing communities at increasing risk from coastal hazards including tsunamis, severe storms, and shoreline erosion. They also reduce a community’s resilience to respond to disasters. Responding to growing demand for coastal services, Tetra Tech has gained impressive experience in building the capacity of national and local governments and communities in coastal management in the United States and globally.

Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Coastal Resource Management Project (CRMP) and the follow-on Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvests (FISH) project, Tetra Tech provided state-of-the-art technical assistance and training to more than 300 communities over 2,000 miles of the Philippine coastline—from small fishing villages to large municipalities—to improve fishery and coral reef habitat management strategies, resulting in greater food security and biodiversity.

[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

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

  • Helped establish 70 new marine sanctuaries covering 1,500 hectares of coral reef and seagrass habitat
  • Assisted government agencies with coastal communities to reduce overfishing through the fisheries adopting registration and licensing programs, habitat protection, and increased enforcement
  • Established a monitoring and evaluation system for government agencies that provides a framework for planning, evaluating, and improving coastal resource management strategies
  • Implemented an effective nationwide public awareness and outreach campaign, including an award-winning website (www.oneocean.org) for coastal resources management information and a video series that is part of the public school curriculum nationwide

Highlight

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.”