Page 4 - August 2018 Gears & Ears

Gears and Ears

Journal of The Rotary Club of Lake Buena Vista
August 2018

A Rotary Reef Revisited

In the calm blue waters of Lamon Bay lies a source of pride for local fishermen and a
submerged salute to Rotary: an artificial reef in the shape of a Rotary wheel. The wheel has
helped restore the local fishing industry, which was devastated by large-scale commercial
fishing vessels that used dynamite, cyanide, and fine mesh nets from the late 1990s through
the early 2000s.

Fishing is considered the lifeblood of the area’s coastal villages, including Balubad, Lubi, Talaba,

and Kilait, and for years, village fishermen fought to protect the waters that fed their families.
In 2005, the fishermen turned to the Rotary Club of Atimonan, Quezon Province, Philippines,
for help. They decided to build an artificial reef. The club partnered with the Rotary Club of
Madera, California, USA, on a Rotary Foundation grant to help fund the project, which would
cost more than $1 million.

They built the reef in the shape of a Rotary wheel, which just happens to have plenty of

surface area for coral to grow on and plenty of nooks for fish to shelter in. Made of steel-
reinforced concrete, it’s 600 meters from the coastline, measures about 4 meters tall and 21
meters wide (13 by 70 feet), and weighs several tons.

Today, the wheel, touted as the biggest artificial reef in the Philippines, is covered with coral
and has withstood several typhoons. It attracts fish, including jacks, surgeonfish, mangrove red
snappers, groupers, longfin bannerfish, flounders, pompanos, batfish, and barracudas, among
other marine creatures.

“Before the reef, the fishermen were barely able to catch a kilo [2.2 pounds] of fish apiece,”
says Oca Chua, past president of the Rotary Club of Atimonan and the project’s chair. “Today
they catch fish weighing up to 2 kilos apiece a day.”

Protecting the fish has been just one benefit of the effort.
The reef also became a tourist attraction that boosted the
local economy. Fishermen build bamboo rafts and rent them

to tourists who visit the reef to eat, rest, dive, and even feed
the fishes.

• This story originally appeared in Philippine Rotary magazine

Page 4