Sagay City is considered one of the major fishing grounds in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. It is bounded in the north by the Visayan Sea, a portion of the country known for vast marine resources.

Man's wanton abuse of Sagay's marine environment resulted to massive destruction in the area. sometime in the late 1970's, the former municipal mayor and congressman, Alfredo G. Maranon, Jr initiated the conservation and management of the dying coral reefs with the help of the technical expertise of Silliman University Marine Laboratory headed by Dr. Angel Alcala. In the 1980s, a marine sanctuary was established in Carbin Reef as was formally proclaimed as a protected area through a municipal ordinance and was extended to Panal, Maca and the fringing reefs of Molocaboc Islands.

In 1995, the passage of Presidential Proclamation 592 declaring approximately 32,000 hectares of Sagay's Territorial Waters as Protected Seascape under the National Integrated Protected Area System (NIPAS) Act was a major milestone for the fishing communities.

A landmark law which provided fiercer claws to the protection efforts in Sagay, Authored and passed by then Congressman Maranon is Republic Act No. 1906 titled, " An Act for the Establishment and Mangement of Sagay Marine Reserve, defining its scope, coverage and for other purposes," and was consequently approved by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in April 14, 2001.

Sagay Marine Reserve is now being recognized nationally and internationally as one of the succesful marine conservation programs in the Philippines and has one the elusive 1997 Gawad Galig Pook Awards as one of the Ten Outstanding and Innovative Government Programs in the Philippines.

The City Government and its people continue to join hands in making Sagay City a place where prosperity conforms with environment by preserving its marine resources so that the next generation will be able to experience and enjoy them.

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