SINGAPORE – Ms Rocky Tirona was one of the Philippines’ top creative directors when she decided it was time to shift gears.
“I think I made the jump at the right time… I’ve always loved the ocean, and I always wanted to use my skills to do more meaningful things,” she said. Coastal 500 is about saving the world’s coastal waters from man-made and climate-related disasters like“We work primarily on coastal waters, roughly 18km from the shore. So it’s that thin strip of ocean. It’s just 6 per cent of the ocean, but it’s actually where 70 per cent of marine biodiversity is found,” she said.Ms Tirona said fishermen have, in recent years, been catching less than a kilogram of fish per day, down from 8kg in the 1950s.
Ms Tirona acknowledges that mayors, as politicians, have a transactional approach to their affairs, and that protecting marine life and fighting climate change may not usually be at the top of their agenda because these issues do not come with pivotal votes.They can designate parts of coastal waters as marine sanctuaries, craft policies, as well as allocate funds and manpower to enforce the law.
One of Coastal 500’s success stories has been in Libertad town, a mostly fishing community in Antique province, in central Philippines.
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