What was the fishing like when you started as a boy?
I learned fishing when I was 12 years old. My father and my uncles were still doing dynamite fishing, some of my uncles had a hand blown off. I didn't learn dynamite fishing any more, but we did muruami fishing which was also very destructive. We had nets with very small meshes. At the end of the net was a line with a stone, so it would lie on the coral. On the upper end children were swimming as human buoys. The stone was towed over the coral to get the fish out. It did a lot of damage to the coral. Also we caught a lot of fish that was too little to eat.

What made you stop using muruami fishing?
Scientists from the university came and explained to us what damage muruami fishing does to the corals. We could also see that, the catch of fish was going down. Sometimes we even had to go to other places to fish. So we decided to start the reserve. Now we catch twice as much as before.

©Greenpeace/Heike Dierbach

Do you catch enough to earn a living?
I also work part time as a Sea Ranger, that is 15 dollars per month. Together with my fishing it is enough for a good living for me, my wife and my three children. My wife also sells T-Shirts to tourists.

Do you think it is necessary that Apo Island is a declared marine reserve?
That is very important. If it was not an official reserve some fisherman would go back to the old destructive methods, I think. We do a lot to educate the people, especially the children. But it has to be official to make sure everybody protects the sea.