Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project: March 2006
Added to website: 26 April 2006
Project Brief
Aim
The Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project is a collaborative project to survey the coral reefs of Sogod Bay. The programme provides training and conservation education opportunities for local Filipinos, as part of an integrated programme to develop local capacity and ensure the long-term protection and sustainable use of marine resources throughout the region.
Location
Sogod Bay, Southern Leyte, South-Eastern Philippines.
Project Partners
CCC is working at the invitation of and in partnership with the Provincial Government of Southern Leyte and the Philippine Reef & Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc (PRRCFI).
Marine Science Programme
Baseline Surveys
Background: Our baseline surveying programme is designed to gather data about the biological and morphological standing of Sogod Bay. These data are combined with information on human and natural impacts on the reefs, along with oceanographic data, to ultimately produce a Geographical Information System ‘map’ of the various habitats of the bay. It is like a ‘stock-take’ of the current marine resources, which is being produced to provide policymakers and concerned institutions with information necessary to effectively manage those resources. To date, the northern end of Sogod Bay has been surveyed, and the remainder of the project will concentrate on the south and Limasawa Island. If you would like more information on our surveying rationale or methodology, please don’t hesitate to contact our Project Scientist.
Let me firstly apologise for the absence of your monthly update following the departure of Jan. Although Shay did return to the site for a few weeks with every intention of completing an update, he spent a good deal of his time here assisting with the rescue mission in San Bernard before he had to return to the UK. Our surveys during January focused mainly around North Ampo and I am pleased to announce that we have completed several sectors as detailed below. We have been also started to survey Limasawa and have already completed four sectors here.
ReefCheck
Background:Based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), ReefCheck is the name of both the world’s largest coral reef monitoring network and of the common methodology used, allowing the comparison of results from various locations worldwide. Although less detailed than CCC’s baseline surveys, the ReefCheck method is effective for monitoring changes in reef health over time. In order to do this, we mark the survey ‘transect’ with metal stakes, to ensure that repeat surveys are in the same place each time. These stakes are sited in rock, dead coral or sand for minimal disruption of the fragile reef system. CCC is proud to be a major contributing member of ReefCheck. Check out their site at www.ReefCheck.org
During the months of December and February we completed 12 Reef Check Surveys around Ampo reef and Tangkaan Point.
Environmental Awareness
We were visited by four school teachers from Leyte who are researching the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) that had been established in the Province of Southern Leyte. They were particularly interested in the educational work that is carried out by Coral Cay and its relationship to the effective implementation of MPAs. They spoke at length with the Project Scientist and hopefully gained a useful insight into the work which is carried out here.
Capacity Building/Training of Local Counterparts
On the weekend of 18th/19th February our Projects Coordinator journeyed to Cebu to assist the Provincial Tourism Office at the Tourism and Trade fair, held at the SM Centre, Cebu City, in promoting Southern Leyte as a tourism destination and spread the word to those interested of the beautiful coral reefs in Southern Leyte and the great diving opportunities. The Southern Leyte Stand attracted much attention, although it was unfortunate that much of it was due to the devastating landslide of the previous day.
Local Counterpart training has continued and in March we saw the successful completion of the first Divemaster course with complete Science development training. The Divemaster is a valuable resource and knowledge base within the Provincial government and highlights the Provincial governments continued commitment to training, environmental awareness and employee development. Not only can these skills be utilised within the tourism industry but also within other fields including rescue and disaster management. February saw the completion of three Rescue Diver courses by Provincial Government staff increasing further the number of highly qualified employees.
Interesting/Unusual Sightings
I am very excited to report that the whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) have been sighted in Sonoc whilst on a recreational dive in early February. Other sightings this month include a large Mantis Shrimp (Odontodactylus scyllarus) (12cm) and a Snowflake Moray Eel (Echidna nebulosa) on a dive at Sta. Sofia. Also, an incredible diversity of Angelfish including the rare but locally common Blue-Girdled Angelfish (Pomacanthus xanthometopon), Emperor Angelfish (P. imperator), Semicircle Angelfish (P. semicirculatus) and Six-banded Angelfish (P. sexstriatus), all spotted on a wall dive off North Ampo in Baragay Buenavista. A small pod of Dolphins were seen jumping at Limasawa and many turtles have been sighted to the south of our site at Ampo. A Grey reef shark (Charcharhinus amblyrhynchos), Eagle Ray (Aetobatus narinari) at Limasawa and two large (1.5m) Napoleon Wrasse (Cheilnus undulates) have been observed both at Limasawa and North Ampo during the first half of March. This is a welcome sighting as an outbreak of Crown of Thorns Sea Stars (Acanthaster planci) (COT) has been discovered on the west of Limasawa. The Napoleon Wrasse is one of the few natural predators of the COT which has been seen to completely devastate coral reefs in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and also on the eastern side of Limasawa during 2005. Attempts are underway to limit the damage to the reef system..
