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Socio-economic Assessment and Monitoring System (SEAMS) is a tool developed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which aims to assess social and economic impacts of protected areas to guarantee the preservation and conservation of the natural resources which contributes to the coexistence and sustainability of human beings and nature. The assessment tool developed involved evaluating the impacts of conservation efforts on the livelihoods and socio-economic conditions of the communities living in or around protected areas.
While social impact assessments and economic impact assessments frequently utilize various techniques and are carried out separately, they are complementary and at times overlap. Both assessment methods may examine demographic change however, the economic assessment may place emphasis on workforce information while the social assessment may also highlight the results for population change or youth.
The SEAMS tool by the DENR aims to provide a standardized method of evaluating and monitoring socio-economic conditions of the occupants in protected areas and places adjacent to the PAs. It will identify key cases dealt by the occupants in protected areas. The Tañon Strait Protected Seascape, pursuant to Republic Act 7586 otherwise known as the National Integrated Protected Areas System (NIPAS) Act of 1992, DAO 2008-26, the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations, and in order to enhance DAO 2013-20, “Revised Guidelines on the Survey and Registration of Protected Areas Occupants” particularly the socio-economic data as basis in protected area management planning, the Socio-Economic Assessment and Monitoring System (SEAMS) had been developed.
The 2022 TSPS SEAMS objectives are the following:
The assessment utilized KoBoToolbox - a powerful open-source suite of tools for field data collection, management, and analysis - for the processing, analysis, and interpretation of data. The KoBoToolbox was also used for the identification of the qualified tenured migrants for the issuance of Protected Area Community-Based Resource Management Agreement (PACBRMA) and other tenurial instruments.
During the conduct of the TSPS SEAMS 2022, they managed to interview a total of 226,606 resource user respondents from the 308 coastal barangays of the 42 Local Government Units. The demographics showed that 67.62% of the survey respondents were males and 32.38% were females where 58% were married, 16.14% have common-law partners, 11.39% were widowed, and 11.17% were single. The highest educational attainment shows that 24.21% of the respondents were high school graduates, 20.21% reached elementary level, 17.19% were elementary graduates, 13.87% reached high school level, 13.87% were college undergraduates, and 13.02% of the respondents graduated in college.
The survey also reveals that among the 44.02% of the respondents were under the poverty threshold while the rest of the respondents exceeded it. The main source of income for the respondents shows that 25.41% of the respondents were skilled laborers, 15.35% were professionals/ self-employed, 12.36% were full-time employees, 11.75% were pensioners, 10.15% were contractual employees, 7.32% were fishers, and 4.68% were farmers.
Traditionally and historically, fishing has been the major source of livelihood in the communities surrounding the TSPS. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) had recorded an approximate of 28,144 marginal fishers in TSPS. However, in the SEAMS survey results, only 7.32% of the respondents accounted for fishers while the majority of the respondents identified themselves as skilled laborers.
TSPS has seen a decline in its catch per unit effort (CPUE) from the 1960s to the present especially on gears such as jigs, hook and lines, gillnets, driftnets, and seines. For instance, CPUE for gillnets in the 1960s was about 40 kg/day and it has gone down to approximately 20 kg/day in the early 2000s and this survey revealed that their average CPUE for 2022 has even decreased to 9 kg/day.
This trend can be attributed to the fact that all of the Local Government Units (LGUs) surrounding TSPS have privately owned resorts, local restaurants, bars, and shops that cater to local, national, and international tourists which gave the local communities an opportunity to find other sources of income as employees to these enterprises thereby decreasing the pressure on fisheries.
The SEAMS survey also discovered that the respondents have little to no knowledge about the corresponding activities, laws, regulations, and events of Tañon Strait. 55.94% of the respondents says that they were not knowledgeable about ecotourism initiatives, 42.34% of the respondents were not aware of the existence of PAMB, and 46.55% of the respondents were not aware on the existence of People's Organizations. But, 72.79% of the respondents were aware that their LGUs have different activities and plans for the improvement of the seas.
Despite being aware of the eco-tourism opportunities and other LGU interventions, 74.5% of the total respondents still fall below the poverty threshold of the lower-middle income sector which was determined to be at PhP 10,400.00/month. This survey likewise determined the poverty threshold of family expenses for the lower-middle income sector at PhP 6,800.00/month.
There has been existing reports and documents of unregulated fishing and other illegal activities in the Tañon Strait but the SEAMS survey result indicates that the majority of the coastal communities were not knowledgeable on the human-induced threats that may affect the quality of life in TSPS. 60.7% of the respondents were not aware of any illegal wildlife and timber collection, 80.6% were not knowledgeable enough of illegal collection of aquatic resources, 80.6% lacks knowledge on commercial fishing activities, 79.64% says that they have no knowledge on the possible human intrusion, and 78.09% responded no/lacking knowledge on the plastic pollution occurring in TSPS.
Despite all of these survey results, there has been a major barrier that prevents the SEAMS survey from acquiring precise and accurate data as a survey burnout was observed among the survey respondents. The burnout can be accredited to the recent events, which were the Super Typhoon Odette in 2021 and COVID pandemic. Any survey conducted could instantly be perceived as having financial or material assistance attached to it. These significant events have put the economic situation of all resource users in a very challenging predicament. As a result, the respondents had the tendency to inflate or deflate their responses depending on their convenience and/or perceived context of the interview.
