Dati nung lapang butanding, araw-araw dito sa amin dynamite.
Aga apun yan, umaga, hapun, poruputok dynamite yan.
Pero nung nag-start na nung butanding, natigil yung putukan sa dynamite.
Ang importantin dito sa butanding, dahil maraming kami, nagkikinabang kami ng mga guide.
Tagabang ka, lalo na yung mga walang trabaho dito sa amin, naka-extra dun sa banka.
Siguro kung wulang butanding sa dun sol, wula.
Ako isang pisserman, Dati.
Sa ngayon, nagkandak nang, nung time na nadescobrio yung butanding dito sa dun sol,
isa ako sa napili na nagtraining kami ng BIO-Butanding Interaction Officer.
First time ko na mag-interaction, February 1, 1998.
Ang daming butanding nung, pero takot ako.
First time ko nung mag-interaction sa butanding.
Montik na ako masapak nung butanding.
Kasi hindi ko palam yung direction ng butanding kung saan po punta.
Yung pala eh, donor pa lang sa katawan ko.
I start to do the world shark when I was young because I always come with my father going to the world shark
since when I was 10 years old.
The world shark was so, so important for us because the world shark,
he changed our life here in Dun Sol.
Because of the world shark, they have an improvement in our family.
We done to school.
My sister, she done to do the study in college.
Dun Sol is one of those places that has become a model for shark tourism in the Philippines.
Before that, there was no such thing as shark tourism.
But then when that industry happened, it inspired the entire Philippines to look at whale sharks.
Not just as a fishery resource, but something that's a non-extractive use for sharks.
So the whale shark is definitely a flagship species.
I would even say that it's the most recognizable marine species in the Philippines.
It's in our 100 peso bill.
And no shark has ever gained that much popularity in the Philippines.
Isa po akong biayo dito sa Dun Sol.
Biayo po ibig sabihin, butanding interaction officer.
Ako yung nakikipagusap dun sa mga turista.
Ako yung sumasama sa kanil lang ang lumangoy.
Yung trabaw ko sa mainila.
Kasi nakakita ako ng potential na magiging magandang anak buhay to na pag-bubutanding.
Dahil sinuerte ako na naging biayo.
Malaking tulong po ito sa akin.
Kasi napagawa ko yung bahay ko.
Dahil po yun sa pagiging biayo ko.
Ngayon, mapapatapos ko na yung anak ko sa pag-aaral niya.
Katulad ng sinabi ko, Ang Dun Sol I Sleepy Town.
So nang nagkaroon kami na yung butanding na pinupuntaan na ng mga turista.
Naging additional income sa aming mga Tagadang Sol.
Alos karamiyan sa aming kumikita na po lalo na yung mga manginsda.
Noon ang well-shark sa mga manginsda.
Parang tinuturing nila itong isang balakit sa kanila.
Yung mga manginsda, yung banka nila, ginagamit na nila pang turista.
When there is a tourism industry built around a particular species,
you don't just support the tour guides and the boats.
There's an entire ecosystem of industries that's built around them.
So there are hotels, there are restaurants, there are travel agencies,
tricycle drivers, there's an entire souvenir shop industry.
So it supports an entire livelihood of different kinds.
So the well-sharks got protected in the Philippines in March 1998
because of an incident of the slaughtering of well-sharks in one town in the Philippines
which got in the news, which led to the national government
protecting them throughout the country.
This year we have an opportunity to conserve well-sharks better
through the Convention on Migratory Species or CMS.
The well-sharks are proposed for an uplifting from Appendix 2 to Appendix 1
which will afford it better management of threats and its conservation
throughout its range, throughout the world.
Noon, super marami yung well-shark namin
dahil hindi namin pinapansin yung malilit, pinipili namin yung malalaki.
Pero ngayon po sa observation ko kumokon tinapo sila.
Kasi yung well-shark migratory siya
hindi natin alam sa ibang bansa kung anong nangyari sa kanila.
Papasalamat talaga sa butanding.
Kung ulang butanding, hindi ko alam kung anong inang butang pamilya ko.
Malamang, kahit high school hindi makatapos yung pamilya ko
kasi kulang-kulang talaga sa pangingisda, ang income ko.
Kaya paraod ako sa pabubutanding ko.
Dapat alagaprotiksin ang mambutanding. Pagalagaan mo,
pag hindi mo yan naprotiktahan,
goodbye na ang Don Sol.
Mahubusa na yan ang butanding.
