The IFARMC of Lamon Bay was formalized in 2005 with the consolidated support of the fisherfolks, Patnubay Development Foundation, Inc., Tanggol Kalikasan, BFAR Region IV-A and the ISO. In 2006, the IFARMC of Northern Lamon Bay was created to consolidate resource management efforts in the area. This facilitated the streamlining and operationalization of resource management efforts across the entire bay. Local Chief Executives from these municipalities and representatives of the Office of Municipal Agriculture from each municipality gave their support to the IFARMC. In January 2006, the Local Chief Executives of municipalities in Northern Lamon Bay signed a memorandum of agreement with the ISO and the IFARMC. The agreement stipulated their commitments to provide technical and logistical support to the IFARMC.

Municipalities of Northern Lamon Bay

Project Activities:

Unified Municipal Fisheries Ordinance (UMFO). The IFARMC in NLB facilitated the passage of the UMFO. The UMFO became the basis for consolidated resource protection activities in Northern Lamon Bay.

Integrated Patrolling and Surveillance. The IFARMC of NLB also conducts patrolling and surveillance operations with fisher volunteers and local maritime law enforcement groups from municipalities to prevent illegal fishing and commercial fisher’s incursion in the 15 kilometers municipal waters. This secures marine resources for the fishers and underlines the need for bay-wide inter-municipality partnership in resource protection.

Research and Monitoring. The local research team of the IFARMC of NLB is given technical assistance in data collection for the monitoring of fishery conditions. These then serve as data base on which policy recommendation and program actions are based. These include research on coastal and marine resources via mangrove inventory, mangrove utilization patterns, coral reef assessment and fish catch monitoring.