Abstract for: Socio-ecological Shift in Fishing Practices Influenced by the Draining of the Leyte Sab-A Basin Peatland (LSBP)

The Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland, once spanning 3,000 hectares, was reduced to 2,200 hectares following agricultural conversion in the 1970s. This transformation disrupted its ecological balance, drying the peatland and rendering traditional fishing methods ineffective. As a result, fishers adopted unsustainable practices like burning and electro-fishing, further degrading the ecosystem. Restoring ecological stability and promoting sustainable livelihoods are essential to address these ongoing challenges. The socio-hydrology paradigm highlights the co-evolution of human and water systems. It begins with a pristine environment, followed by human exploitation, which degrades aquatic resources and reduces fish stocks. This prompts interventions like conservation and sustainable practices. A simplified coupled system model emphasizes achieving environmental stability and social prosperity, with the ecosystem service approach identified as the most effective framework for understanding these dynamics. The human-coupled system framework emphasizes achieving ecological stability and social prosperity through feedback loops. This model highlights ecosystem services as key to understanding coupled systems. It includes structure, dynamics, emergent properties, and community values. The socio-hydrology model integrates biophysical, socioeconomic, and institutional factors, with parameters like basin hydrology, population, and community behavior shaping system responses and feedback mechanisms. Environmental changes in the Leyte Sab-a Basin Peatland have disrupted fishing practices, threatening livelihoods and social structures. As peatland degradation reduces fish availability, communities have adopted unsustainable methods, worsening environmental decline. This shift has eroded traditional knowledge and weakened sustainable practices. Addressing these challenges requires ecological restoration, policy support, and the revival of sustainable fishing traditions to ensure long-term community and ecosystem resilience. Used in summarizing and paraphrasing the paper for brevity