Pescador Island

Pescador Island is a small limestone island in the Tañon Strait, 3km of the western coast of Cebu Island in the Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Moalboal, Cebu. The marine habitat around the island is a marine reserve, protected by the Moalboal Municipal Water User's Fee System for 2006 in accordance with Resolution No. 044-2006.

However it is just a marine park by name as the local fishermen spear fish exhaustively the entire reef. Experienced divers notice the lack of large fish compared to other similar areas such as the nearby Apo Island. Local dive operators concede that the economic benefit to Moalboal derived from the dive tourism is far greater than the traditional fisherman's and the current abuse of the area is resulting in a decline of the islands attraction to scuba divers. Fishermen also have been using rocks as anchors destroying coral and continually entangle the delicate coral with their nylon fishing lines.

From a divers perspective it is an ideal dive site having easy access from the shore (a 10 minute 3 km boat ride from Panagsama Beach) and a great range of dive sites from shallow to deep dives and snorkeling. Accessible all year round in all but extreme storm conditions it provides consistently interesting diving.

All proceeds from sales of the entrance tags and tickets are managed by the Municipality of Moalboal and Moalboal Dive Center Association (MDCA) and government officials and villagers from the Municipality of Moalboal. The Municipality of Moalboal and Moalboal Dive Center Association (MDCA) and government officials and villagers from the Municipality of Moalboal will utilize these funds to finance a number of high priority conservation programs in the Municipality, including patrols and enforcement to abolish destructive fishing, village improvement programs within the Municipality, collection and disposal of plastic and other wastes entering the Municipality waters, marine conservation education of village children and adults, and reef and mangrove rehabilitation.

The waters of Moalboal Marine Park are extremely deep (600 m in Tañon Straight), clear (up to 35-40 m visibility), refreshing in temperature (27-29 °C) and harbor some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world [http://www.oneocean.org/flash/philippine_biodiversity.html] . Although the exact number of fish species is unknown, it may be slightly higher than in [http://www.fishbase.org] , where 2,500 species, or nearly 70% of all fish species known to the Indo-western Pacific, are found. In the Philippine and Moalboal waters one can find more than 2,500 species of fish.

The uninhabited island itself has an automated lighthouse and access steps on the north and east sides.

External links

* [http://www.neptunediving.com Diving in Moalboal]
* [http://www.scuba-mdca.com Moalboal Dive Center Association (MDCA)]