April Update - Philippine Marine Project
Added to website: 02 April 2005
Project Brief
Aim
The Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project is a three-year collaborative project (2002-2005), 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).
Marine Science Programme
Baseline Surveys
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.
With 21 volunteers here, it’s been a busy month on site. Our survey teams have been making a concerted effort to complete the first set of surveys from our Reef Check program, and thus have not been undertaking any Baseline surveys. These will recommence in May, when the Baseline program will run side-by-side with the Reef Checks.
Reef Check
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
Eighteen full 100m Reef Check surveys have now been completed on the west coast of Tangkaan in order to produce quantitative data on the reefs of the area. A further 2 surveys have been completed on the east coast, bringing the total surveyed area up to a whopping 2 kilometres! Together, these data will be used to quantitatively map the reefs, which are considered to have outstanding live hard coral (LHC) cover. On various transects, LHC has been repeatedly quantified at greater than 70%, with a number of surveys returning values of over 80%. In a country where over 95% of reefs are classified as being ‘at risk’, with a massive number in a state of severe degradation, the results are very encouraging and are testament to the efforts of the fisherfolk and the LGUs to limit the destruction that has happened all too frequently elsewhere in the Philippines.
Interesting / Unusual Sightings
There have also been many encouraging fish sightings. A number of large pelagics (deep-water fish) such as tuna and jacks have been spotted off the reefs that they visit in order to feed on the small reef fish. Even more spectacularly, we have had a large number of sightings of Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) at various places on the reef. These fish are highly prized within the live food-fish trade, and have thus traditionally been targets for ‘cyanide’ fishing, whereby fishers release highly toxic chemicals into the water near the fish, which are intended to stun the animal and allow it to be captured and exported live for the Asian restaurant industry. Unfortunately, the fish frequently die (either in situ or during transit) and are thus worthless. Furthermore, the poisons used remain in the water and kill a large number of other organisms, such as the corals from which the reef is built. These fish have become so rare that they are now listed on the most ‘critical’ category (Appendix I) of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meaning that international trade in these organisms is utterly prohibited. The fact that only a handful of marine species are listed under the CITES is an indicator of how precarious the situation is for this remarkable (and enormous!) fish. Southern Leyte can be proud to have such an internationally rare resident!
Environmental Awareness
On April 22nd, we were pleased to part of the International Dive-In-To-Earth Day. This is a global event, whereby individuals and organisations can pitch in and make a difference to the marine environment on which so many of the world’s people depend directly (and on which we all depend on a wider scale). With the impending opening of the new Marine Protected Areas in Padre Burgos Municipality, seven teams of divers ‘spring-cleaned’ the reefs at the proposed site of the Santa Sofia MPA, removing garbage, old fishing gears, car tyres and a multitude of other alien objects. Simultaneously, a dozen of the local children helped to tidy up the shoreline, and collected a massive amount of plastics and other debris. The day was a great success, and we’d like to extend our thanks to all involved. Over the coming months, we’re planning to give the other MPA sites a similar treatment and to get everything ‘ship-shape’ under the water and on the shore.
