ABN Takla and Crab Sight

Overview

ABN Takla and Crab Sight is a nature-based recreational site in Barangay Abucayan Norte, Calape, on Bohol’s northwest coast. The BPTO classifies it under Marine Park, which points to coastal or intertidal marine features — a mangrove flat, reef edge, or tidal zone where crab species can be watched, in line with the “Crab Sight” half of the name.

Calape sits along Bohol Strait facing Cebu, and several of its coastal barangays — Abucayan Norte among them — carry mangrove and nearshore marine ecosystems that support the local catch.

Locally, the site is tied to takla — the Boholano name for snapping shrimp (Alpheus sp.), fished from Calape’s intertidal mudflats and mangroves and counted among the municipality’s major seafood delicacies. Despite the “Crab Sight” name, the activity covers both shrimp and crab: visitors watch or join traditional takla gathering (pagpanakla), pull crab traps (sapyaw), and cross a boardwalk over a mangrove crab enclosure to watch fishermen work the pens for crab, clam, and shrimp. The trade has been promoted as a community livelihood and eco-tourism initiative under the JICA-supported Sustainable Environment for Panglao Project (SEPP).

Location

Barangay Abucayan Norte, Calape, Bohol. Calape sits on Bohol’s northwest coast, about 35 km from Tagbilaran City via the Tagbilaran–Tubigon highway.

Getting There

From Tagbilaran City, a jeepney or bus bound for Tubigon reaches Calape in 45–60 minutes. From Calape Poblacion, a habal-habal covers the remaining distance to Barangay Abucayan Norte. Tubigon port, the main ferry gateway to northwest Bohol from Cebu, sits about 10 km north of Calape.

Practical Info

The activity runs as a community fisherfolk livelihood and eco-tourism initiative (linked to the JICA-supported Sustainable Environment for Panglao Project) rather than a formally operated paid facility, so visits are arranged informally through local gatherers or guides. [FACT NEEDED: entrance fees, operating hours, and visitor facilities not confirmed in source data.]

What to Expect

Visitors can watch or join takla gathering — pagpanakla — in the intertidal mudflats and mangroves of Abucayan Norte, pull crab traps (sapyaw), and cross a boardwalk over a mangrove enclosure where fishermen harvest crab, clam, and shrimp from the pens. That enclosure is the basis for both the “Crab Sight” name and the BPTO’s Marine Park classification.

Notes

Source: Bohol Tourism Profile Eco Dev2025.pdf (BPTO Table 11 — Inventory of Tourist Attractions). Entry lists attraction by name, barangay (Abucayan Norte), municipality (Calape), and BPTO classification (Nature / Marine Park) only. No source description available. Barangay Abucayan Norte was among the barangays of Calape formally organized in 1957. Calape - Provincial Government of Bohol, accessed 2026-07-17. “Takla” is the Boholano name for snapping shrimp (Alpheus sp.), documented as abundant in Calape’s coastal areas with wide intertidal zone, mangroves, and mud banks; mean density was recorded at 7 individuals/m², with body weight of 3.87–12.86 g and total length 4.78–7.44 cm. Preliminary Assessment of the Abundance and Fishery of Snapping Shrimp (Alpheus sp.) in Calape, Bohol, Philippines (Baobao, Rabia & Rulida, SEAFDEC/BFAR Proceedings, 2015), accessed 2026-07-28. Visitors to Abucayan can take part in takla gathering (pagpanakla), pull crab traps (sapyaw), and walk a boardwalk over a mangrove crab enclosure to watch fishermen harvest crabs, clams, and shrimp; the Calape takla trade has been cited as a JICA Sustainable Environment for Panglao Project (SEPP) community livelihood/eco-tourism effort. Takla, big hit among eco-tourists here, Bohol Chronicle, 30 Aug 2015 — site was under scheduled maintenance at time of access; content confirmed via consistent, verbatim search-index snippets returned across multiple independent queries rather than a direct page fetch, accessed 2026-07-28. [FACT NEEDED: entrance fees, operating hours, and visitor facilities] — searched “ABN Takla and Crab Sight” + entrance fee/hours/facilities, and reviewed Bohol Chronicle/SEPP coverage, the Calape LGU page (bohol.gov.ph), and PhilAtlas; no fee, hours, or facility details found in any source. Not yet checked: direct BPTO/CENRO contact, Calape/Abucayan Norte Facebook community pages, TripAdvisor (no listing found under this name). Remains unresolved as of 2026-07-28. [FACT NEEDED: coordinates are approximate for Abucayan Norte barangay area.] — PhilAtlas lists a barangay-centroid coordinate for Abucayan Norte of 9.9140, 123.9130 (Abucayan Norte, Calape, Bohol Profile – PhilAtlas, accessed 2026-07-28), roughly 3–4 km from the file’s current frontmatter coordinates (9.888, 123.878). This is a barangay-wide centroid, not a site-specific location for the takla/crab-enclosure activity, so it was not used to overwrite the frontmatter coordinates per task constraints. Remains unresolved pending a site-specific coordinate source.