Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project: May 2007 update
Added to website: 08 June 2007
Project Brief
Aim
The Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project (SLCRCP) is a six-year collaborative project (2002–2008), 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.
CCC 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).
Another good month at Ampo, with good progress on the survey and the training of a new main group of volunteers. The community work slowed down after two very busy months, in part because of school holidays and election time, part to focus more into other projects in collaboration with our main partners.
Marine Science Programme
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.For the third month in a row, we crossed the line of 1 km of surveyed terrain, with 1220m baseline survey carried out! The main focus were the same as last month, The Southern tip and the western coast just offshore from Triana on Limasawa and the waters of St Roque Baranguay. All sites showed a mix of very good reefs and poorer bottoms or sandy areas. We were very pleased with the good weather allowing us to spend many days surveying on Limasawa, enjoying lunch break along beautiful shorelines as a reward of the very good work the volunteers have been carrying out! Following in the box, the list of transects completed this month.
| Transect | Barangay | Site Impression | Start Depth | Finish Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B0115 | S. Limasawa | Good | 24.0 | 3.5 |
| B0202 | W. Limasawa | Average | 24.0 | 3.2 |
| B0203 | W. Limasawa | Good | 24.0 | 1.8 |
| B0204 | W. Limasawa | Average | 24 | 1.9 |
| B2711 | St. Roque | Good | 23.8 | 3.7 |
| B2712 | St. Roque | Very Good | 24.0 | 3.7 |
| B2713 | St. Roque | Average | 24.0 | 2.8 |
| B2714 | St. Roque | Average | 24.0 | 2.1 |
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. CCC is proud to be a major contributing member of ReefCheck. Check out their site at www.ReefCheck.orgOnce again, the Reef Check surveys where a little neglected during this month, taking advantage of the summer season to keep ourselves busy with our main baseline work. However, CCC believes in the importance of this worldwide program, and wants to continue as one of the main contributors to Reef Checks ongoing efforts to assess the worlds coral reefs. We are confident that with the Habagat season coming in, we will be able to invest more time for Reef Check surveys.
Marine Protected Area (M.P.A) Assessments
In the past months, the Municipal Agriculture Officer of St Ricardo (MAO), in collaboration with PLAN International expressed an interest in having Coral Cay Conservation involved in the planning and assessment of a new MPA in the municipal waters. CCC is always keen and ready to help for this kind of projects, our schedule permitting. Therefore, during this month we decided to make the time to follow up the request of assistance. On May 8th, we took the chance to visit the area beforehand and, through snorkelling a Manta Tow, we defined an area to be subsequently assessed with more precise methods. On May 9th, all CCC volunteers took part in a Rapid Reef Assessment, which allowed us to gather data covering 2.0 km of coastline previously identified as suitable. Two weeks later, I had the pleasure to present the results of our assessment to a large group of people including representatives of the fisherfolk. According to our results, we suggested an area of approx 15 hectares to be protected. Workshops and discussions followed our presentation and the local community, in collaboration with the LGU’s, should be able soon to finalize the project and establish the MPA. CCC will remain involved as external advisor and will provide a further assessment in the future as reference for the biological monitoring, and take part in the community education processes. We look forward to seeing the MPA established as a result of much effort from the MAO and PLAN we had the pleasure to work with.
Education and Community Projects
This month, our community project was located outside our main range. On May 9th, Science Officer Heather Kay gave a lecture to the Catholic Youth Movement of Mahalo, Anahawan on Marine Ecology and threats to the Coral Reefs. Though the coral reefs in this region are not particularly healthy, the teens were interested in how their actions affect the nearby thriving reefs on which they depend. After the lecture, a trek up to a nearby hot spring gave the kids plenty of opportunities to ask a lot of insightful questions!!!
From the 17th to the 21st of May Science Officers Nicky Cariglia and Heather Kay assisted with the Youth Marine and Wildlife Camp held at a former CCC site on Danjugan Island, Negros Occidental. CCC was based on Danjugan Island from 1996 to 1999 and as a result of the surveys conducted, 3 MPA’s were established. 40 teenagers aged 13 to 16 from Negros, Cebu and Manila took part in a range of activities both marine and terrestrial and attended lectures on birds and bats as well as marine and mangrove ecosystems. It was highly rewarding to be involved particularly in the snorkelling activities and giving lectures on the importance of the coral reef ecosystem to enthusiastic young minds who will hopefully become tomorrow’s conservationists. It was also encouraging to witness that the 3 MPA’s established as a result of CCC surveys are still enforced and regarded successful. Some of the marine highlights included 5 juvenile black tip reef sharks within 50m of the shore directly in front of the camp, countless groupers, 2 large reef octopi, 2 napoleon wrasse, hundreds of butterfly and triggerfishes and a large lobster are to name but a few.
Saturday 19th we had the pleasure to receive a visit from Hon. Daisy Gamale, new elected Board Member of the 2nd district. The informal visit has been very enjoyable, and we invited Mme Gamale to visit us again to let us present our work more in detail.
The next Friday, Mme Gamale visited us again on a very special occasion where we had the honour to spend the day with Governor Lerias and her family, visiting Ampo for a day of relaxation, an update on our progress and a refreshing snorkel on the beautiful house reef.
The following day, Mme Gamale welcomed us at her Victory Party in Sogod; we enjoyed the evening tasting fantastic food and dancing with the kids after having congratulated Mme Gamale for her election. Obviously, we wish her all the best for the substantial challenge she accepted in serving the Province as a Board Member. We also look forward to strengthening our collaboration in promoting an environmentally friendly future for the province.
Interesting/Unusual Sightings
A very exciting month on the sightings front!!! Beside many turtles, Rinaldo the ribbon Eel, a 1m long potato grouper being a usual sighting throughout the month, a lucky survey team had the chance to spot a White-spotted eagle ray which was with no doubt the highlight! Rays belong to the same biological family as sharks, the elasmobranches, characterised by a cartilaginous skeleton, while all other fishes do have a bony skeleton. Sharks and rays are very rare on the region; being big fish predators, they are the first group of fishes to suffer from high fishing pressure and illegal hunting. We hope this eagle ray will feel comfortable and safe in the P. Burgos waters, and become a regular visitor. In fact, these large predators are very important to the health of the reef, despite the unmerited bad reputation they suffer.
This month, a group of CCC staff and volunteers returned to Sonok Point once again to survey the whale sharks in the region: 4 individuals were sighted during the morning; unfortunately, no useful picture for the Whale Shark Trust could be taken this time.
Coral Cay Conservation provides resources to help sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty through the protection, restoration and management of coral reefs and tropical forests.
