From promoting good nutrition to dolphins, whales, and dugong preservation.
This will be the new task that the Batang Radyo Sa Nutrisyon (BRSN) will have to assume in the coming weeks, after BFAR-Region 02 Director and Regional Nutrition Committee Chair, Dr. Jovita Ayson, declares that these young broadcasters will be tapped as the new advocates for marine mammal preservation efforts in the Cagayan Valley Region.

This developed after Dir. Ayson witnessed how the BRSN evolved from mere school kids to very active nutrition advocates through the assistance of the National Nutrition Council-Region 02 .

“If these children have been very effective in their advocacy campaigns on nutrition, then there’s no doubt they can do the same thing on marine mammal protection. They can very much influence their parents and their adult audiences on these two campaigns,” Ayson explained.

With this move, these young broadcasters will soon be included as members of the Philippine Marine Mammal Stranding Network or PMMSN-Cagayan Valley Chapter, the most active PMMSN chapter in the entire country.

The RNC Chair meantime, plans to bring the BRSN to Ocean Adventure Park in Subic Bay Freeport, so they can witness by themselves the beautiful mammals of the sea, like the dolphins, whales, and sea lions. They could also get the chance of a close encounter with these animals by participating in the hands-on training on marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation.

Ayson added that it is very important for the public to be educated on the Do’s and Don’t’s every time a marine mammal is beached or stranded in the coastal areas of Region 02, so that these animals will have the chance to survive and be back in the sea.

With the active participation of BRSN in this campaign, she is positive that it is not only in the aspect of nutrition Region 02 will be a champion, but in the marine mammal preservation as well.

NNC-Region 02 Coordinator Rhodora Maestre, meanwhile is very proud of the accomplishments of her “kids” who have grown so much that other agencies are now seeing their potential as partners for their Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns. ### teresa c. campos, balay ni ifan