Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project: July 2007 Update
Added to website: 14 August 2007
Project Update – Claudio de Sassi, Project Scientist
July 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).
Introduction
July was characterized by the beginning of the Habagat, which forced us to interrupt most of the baseline survey work on Limasawa and St Roque. Our attention was concentrated on monitoring the MPAs in P. Burgos, a satellite camp in St Ricardo and the training of a big group of new volunteers.
1.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.
After four exceptional months carrying out baseline surveys, which allowed us to finish the Eastern coast of Limasawa and nearly finish the western coast as well as the sector off St. Roque in Macrohon, we had to slow down operations on this front due to rough seas. However, we profited from occasional days of calm waters to pursue our mission to survey the whole coastline of Sogod Bay, a demanding task, in collaboration with the province, that we are slowly but surely achieving!!!
This month, we managed to complete four sectors on West Limasawa.
| Transect | Barangay | Site Impression | Start Depth | Finish Depth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B0205 | W. Limasawa | Average | 24.0 | 2.3 |
| B0207 | W. Limasawa | Average | 27.5 | 2.3 |
| B0208 | W. Limasawa | Good | 25.0 | 1.8 |
| B0219 | W. Limasawa | Average | 18.2 | 1.6 |
2.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.org
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 world’s coral reefs. In July we focussed mainly on MPA surveys. We plan to carry out several Reef Checks next month.
3. MPA Surveys
Background: Since 2005,when we moved in our actual expedition site in Tangka’an, we have help set up and protect 4 M.P.A.s (Marine Protected Areas) or ‘Fish Sanctuaries’ around the municipality of Padre Burgos: Lungsoda’an, Sta. Sofia, Tangka’an, and Buenavista. These sanctuaries help protect fish until they are large enough to swim further in search of food. When they do, they will leave the sanctuary and be available to be fished. This means that the fish caught are larger but also more abundant because they have had the protection over the time needed to reach sexual maturity and reproduction. Our primary assessments occurred in the same period of time when the sanctuaries have been established. Since then, CCC committed itself to undertake regular monitoring efforts. The four MPA’s have been surveyed last time in August 2006. Especially during the first few, crucial years after the establishment, a regular monitoring schedule is very important to evidence any trend and therefore provide a feedback on the effectiveness of the management.
During the last month we started monitoring the MPA’s once again, a job that will keep us busy for the best part of August too, producing evidence of changes, if any, that have occurred over the last year. We are confident that, comparing the results of this year with those of 2005 and 2006, some trends will become clear. We’ve heard from several people, who have been diving in the waters of P. Burgos since before the sanctuaries were established, that there are more fish to see now than before. We hope that our scientific surveys will confirm these opinions. Certainly, on a personal level, I think that 24 different species of Butterflyfish (Alibangbang) spotted in two days of diving is quite impressive, and since this species is known to be an important Reef health indicator, their abundance and diversity can only be considered another good sign.
During the last week of July we surveyed the Sta Sofia MPA. The work is not yet finished but will be completed in August, along with the other MPA’s.
During May and June, we helped the LGU in the process of setting up a new Marine Protected Area in the Barangay Esperanza II. After identifying the area to be protected through a Rapid Reef Assessment in May, we waited for the decision of the community and LGU about our proposed site. We were very pleased when the MAO of St Ricardo contacted us again saying that our proposal had been accepted with little modification, and that the process of establishing the MPA was underway.
We agreed with the LGU that a more detailed survey of the area should be conducted in order to assess the biophysical state of the proposed area. From 9 to 11 July, we went by boat across the bay with all the volunteers, dive equipment and a puppet show, to St Ricardo, for an intense three days satellite camp in Esperanza II where we surveyed eight full transects, 50m each at 12m depth. The assessment we conducted is a stock take of the initial conditions and shall serve as a reference for future monitoring. This means that a solid comparison can be made at any time in the future, and according to the changes observed (or not observed), management strategies can be decided.
At this time, a report of our findings and further management suggestions are being prepared to be delivered to the concerned agencies and stakeholders shortly. I have never experienced hospitality like that which we received from the people of St Ricardo. We were welcomed with smiles and waves by everyone in the village. We were cooked for by an army of ladies who turned up at four in the morning each day to start on breakfast. The walk to Sanga through the village in full dive gear proved to be very popular as did our introductory tour on the first night where we met the Vice Mayor and the Barangay Captain as well as hundreds of kids. Everybody seemed to be well aware of our purpose, and offered endless support throughout our stay.
The second evening, we gave a performance of our educational puppet show “Fred the Fish” to a huge crowd. Two to three hundred people had gathered in the centre of the village around a flood-lit stage. The performance, with visayan translation, seemed to go down extremely well with the “Evil Illegal Fisherman” terrifying the first two rows of children and, in my opinion, a particularly award-winning performance by the “Great Cod”.
4. Education and Community Projects
In term of community projects, we decided to open the month with the continuation of a Women’s Open Day project we started in April. Maybe some readers can remember that, we organized an educational workshop evening with a group of over 60 women from 3 Barangays as a preparation to the Dive into Earth event - a day in the community trying to raise the sense of responsibility and ownership toward natural resources. There is currently too much domestic waste, ranging from cans to plastic bags, still ending up in the sea, negatively affecting the ecosystem and especially the marine resources, with an indirect negative effect on the fish stocks.
This month, we invited 25 women from the original group to attend an open day. The ladies participated in a series of lectures and open discussions about the environment with a focus on waste disposal. After theory, we switched to practice, with training in weaving native baskets. We decided to offer them this free training in order for them to learn a skill which could make a small contribution the family income. However, our vision is to see a return to native baskets being used as alternatives to the omnipresent plastic bags. A small but motivated number of women showed a great deal of interest, and jumped on the possibility to continue the training for 2 successive Saturdays. They are now able to produce high quality bags and baskets. I was impressed by how professional the final products are, and I think that they would be generally appreciated by tourists as artisan souvenirs. We agreed to buy any bags and baskets produced by the ladies in order to reintroduce these in the local markets as ecologic, aesthetic and traditional alternatives to plastic bags.
A special thanks goes to both the ladies who accepted our initiative with much enthusiasm, and to the trainer Mme Carmen Biong, who invested three Saturdays in teaching the ladies how to weave baskets almost as skilfully as she does. The kids accompanying the ladies spent their afternoon painting new trash bins, similar to the ones produced in April, for their own Barangays.
The following weekend a new batch of students from St. Roque National High School were trained up as Reef Rangers. 10 new students followed the example of the existing Reef Rangers attending the school, and so there are now 20 Reef Rangers active and willing to survey. The training involves an intense weekend where breaks are a rarity and full commitment is required. However, the skills learned are well worth the hard work required, and all 10 of the new Reef Rangers have been an example of enthusiasm. The weekend concluded with a practical survey on our house reef. The following week, Science Officer Luke Harvie visited the students in their school to see the finalized poster showing the findings of the survey. Luke’s comment when he came back was “the poster is spot on”, and therefore we decided to plan a real survey for the 19th of August. Our wish is to involve the students in the MPA surveys at Sta Sofia, letting them survey both the protected and adjacent non protected area and look out for eventual differences.
The following week, we attended a Tree Planting Event in Malitbog, where we had the honour of meeting Congressman Roger G. Mercado, who led the action with an inspirational opening speech. He underlined the importance of taking action against major climate changes and environmental degradation; his charisma motivated us along with hundreds of students to help the LGU and the Army in planting trees along a river. Our hope is that these events will raise awareness of topics such as deforestation especially in the young students who planted the mahogany shoots with much enthusiasm.
July is always a good month in Padre Burgos, with it’s annual Fiesta on July 25th. We were, as usual, very pleased to be invited; these kinds of events are always a great chance for our volunteers to see and live more of the Philippines – one of the main reasons why many volunteers travel to S Leyte. The fiesta was very enjoyable, with live bands performing along with much dancing in the Gym and a very popular fair.
At the end of the month, a project that has been developing for a few months finally came to a happy end. On Monday 30th July, the Municipality of Padre Burgos, the MPA Oversight Committee, the Federation of Omega Beneficiaries Inc (FOBI) and Coral Cay Conservation signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the purchase of a new patrol boat for the MPA’s of Padre Burgos. Through this tripartite MoA, 90’000 pesos have been allocated in order to purchase the patrol boat and all the necessary accessories and possibly to carry out some maintenance work on the MPA’s such as re-installing new corner buoys where needed. A patrol boat is a tool to discourage and prevent boats from entering into the protected areas. We are confident that this new management tool will help in making the MPA’s more effective.
5. Interesting/Unusual Sightings
Once again a good month on the sightings front including a turtle coming to shore at Ampo possibly to lay her eggs. Many other interesting creatures, from frogfish to pigmy sea horses have been spotted on a few occasions. We were lucky enough to encounter one more whale shark off Ampo and another individual in the Sta Sofia MPA while we were conducting the monitoring surveys. Being this the second month in a row that we have spotted Tiki Tiki, on this side of the bay, and well off-season, this is something as welcome as unexpected. Since so little is known about the distribution and migration patterns of these animals we must be very careful in suggesting “trends”. However, the biggest fish in the world seem to like this area very much, and this is to be considered in dealing with both the conservation and tourism challenges Southern Leyte is taking on.
Coral Cay Conservation provides resources to help sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty through the protection, restoration and management of coral reefs and tropical forests.
