To support the declaration of its new MPA and to ensure that this protected areas are effectively managed, CTC under USAID SEA Project conducted basic training on MPA management for 20 community representatives from Fatkauyon Village in Sula Islands on April 11 – 13, 2019.

The training is part of an effort to raise awareness on the establishment of their new MPA, discuss key features in MPA zoning in relation to target species biology and fisheries aspects, and serve as initial step in developing zoning system in potential MPA sites. The training was interactive and utilized fun activities namely group-based work and edu-games.

For this community-type MPA training, CTC emphasized learning on (1) Basic coastal and marine ecosystem; (2) Threats to fisheries and fish population dynamics; (3) principles of MPA; (4) basic zoning design participatory approach, (5) marine tourism in MPA; (6) stakeholder identification and engagement, and (7) law enforcement concept. During the training, participants were expressing their strong interest in learning demersal fish biology, zoning type and zoning design exercise with mapping conservation targets, and law enforcement role play.

To evaluate the basic knowledge change before and after training, pre and post-tests were administered. At the beginning of the training on average participants have knowledge of fundamental MPA as 18.95% and became higher as 37.84% after the training, showing that an average increase knowledge of 18.89%.