Author
Title
Year
Program
Dones, Ramon Y.
Assessment of Reef Fish Community Structure of Carenahan Fish Sanctuary,
Balayan, Batangas.
2006
Master in Environment and Natural Resources Management
ABSTRACT
This study assessed the community structure of reef fishes in small, community-based fish
sanctuary in Barangay Carenahan, Balayan, Batangas, in terms of abundance, density, species
diversity and evenness, biomass and potential yield to determine the status of the sanctuary
three years after its establishment. Results of the study were compared with previous studies
done in the area to discern changes in the community that may suggest success or failure of the
management strategies and actions applied in the area. Two other sites with potential for
protection were likewise assessed using the same parameters used in Barangay Carenahan.
One is located in NPC jetty and was previously reported to have high potential to be set as a
reserve. The other one is being proposed by the locals as a marine reserve in Barangay
Palicpican. Underwater fish visual census was done in three transect sites in the Carenahan
sanctuary, two transect sites in NPC jetty and one transect site in Barangay Palicpican using
scuba.
Result of the survey in the Carenahan sanctuary yielded a total of 930 individuals, 70 reef
fish species belonging to 24 reef fish families. For Palicpican and NPC jetty, a total of 163
individuals belonging to 22 species and 13 families and 856 individuals belonging to 76 species
and 24 families, respectively were recorded. The biomass estimates of fish species in
Carenahan, Palicpican and NPC jetty were 18.7, 67.5 and 22.6 g/m2, respectively. Among the
three sites, Palicpican had the highest potential yield value of 0.10 tons/km2/year while
Carenahan and NPC jetty both had 0.03 tons/km2/year potential yield value. Of the three reef
fish categories, target fish species had biomass estimates of 12 g/m2 representing 47 percent of
the total average biomass of fish in the three sites. Shannon-Wiener Diversity index value for
the Carenahan sanctuary and NPC jetty was 1.4 while palicpican had only 0.95 which indicates
high diversity in the two sites.
This study observed an increase in species diversity, density and biomass for all three reef
fish categories for all sites vis-avis NPC study conducted by Hilomen et al,. (2003). The reef fish
assemblage in Carenahan sanctuary has improved after three years under official protection.
The information generated in this study will form a baseline for the future from which to analyze
the impact of the establishment of the fish sanctuary and marine reserve in the community.