2.1 Physical characteristics
Sorsogon Province is a third class province made up of 16 municipalities.
The project area is located in the eastern part of the province which covers the coastal municipalities of Prieto-Diaz, Gubat, Barcelona, Bulusan, Santa Magdalena and Matnog (Figure 1). There are about 4 000 ha of open reef areas inhabited by various seaweeds along the coastline of these municipalities. Figure 1. a shows the coastal profile of the project area from Prieto-Diaz to Matnog, indicating the extensive reef areas. A typical example of open reef flats along the coastline is found in Barcelona as shown in Figures 2 and 3.
Eastern Sorsogon faces the Pacific Ocean side. It has a Type 2 climate and weather condition in which there is no dry season but maximum rainy period from November to January.
The coastline is characterized by sandy-corraline bottom; some nearshore areas with few stands of mangroves and seagrass beds. There are no industrial plants that are likely to pollute the area and coastal population is still quite small.
The project area is accessible by paved national roads although the municipal access roads are in various stages of development. It is about 80 kms from the Legaspi airport.
2.2 Demographic features
The total population of the province of Sorsogon is about 500 685 (1989). The number of household members engaged in fishing in the project area is 371 305 (NCSO, 1980). The average size of family in 4 of the 5 municipalities is 4.9 for the general household and 5.5 for producer households.
The economic livelihood of the people engaged in fishing is quite diverse which include farming, business, hired labor, etc. in addition to fishing. This is attributed to the climatic conditions which necessitates alternative employment. Preliminary information showed that only 18 percent of the labor force in the coastal communities of Prieto-Diaz, Gubat, Barcelona and Bulusan generate income from fishery. This is indicative of the lack of development assistance in the area in the fishing sector despite resources available.
A preliminary socio-economic survey made in 1989 (Tagarino and Kick, 1990) showed that the average total income of producer household is approximately P3 556/month compared to that of the general household income of P2 006/month. In terms of shelter, majority of the households built and owned their houses but made of locally available materials such as bamboo, nipa and cogon. Potable water supply is not available but electricity is generally available. However, a large percentage of the households have no access to this utility due to financial constraints and the temporary nature of construction materials of their houses renders them inappropriate for electric power service.
