February Update - Philipppine Marine Project
Added to website: 03 March 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.
Number of transects completed
Transects 0313B, 0317A, 0317B, 0502D, 0502E, 0503E, 0503F, 0503G, 0503H, 0503I, 0507A, 0507B.
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
Reef Check monitoring sites are being set up in all the proposed fish sanctuaries around Padre Burgos so that their progress can be recorded as the sanctuaries are established and monitored in the future.
Environmental Awareness
Capacity Building/Training of Local Counterparts
CCC has been involved in advising and assisting the Provincial government and the municipalities of Limasawa and Padre Burgos in dealing with an outbreak of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish on the island of Limasawa. These animals (locally known as da-pag) feed on corals, and when there are large numbers they can seriously threaten the reefs which provide the habitat for fish which are food for the population of Southern Leyte. Currently large numbers of these animals (which are also dangerous to humans due to their poisonous spines) are present on the east coast of Limasawa. Coral Cay Conservation has provided advice and support for government attempts to remove as many of these animals as possible (helped by local divers and the people of Limasawa) as well as similar efforts by the local diving businesses.
Representatives of CCC attended a meeting of Barangay officials from all four of the barangays in Padre Burgos which intend to establish fish sanctuaries. A presentation was given by CCC on fish sanctuary management and stakeholder involvement. Meetings such as this are a very important step in the establishment of effective fish sanctuaries and allow discussion of locally relevant issues. Fish sanctuaries are most likely to succeed in achieving their aims of improving fish stocks if they are set up with full support from all stakeholders. Stakeholders are those groups that will be directly affected by changes resulting from the establishment of a fish sanctuary.
CCC divers have undertaken assessment dives in all four proposed fish sanctuaries to obtain information on the biological content of the areas. This will provide a baseline dataset which can be used to measure the success of the sanctuaries, as divers can revisit the sites on a yearly basis to repeat the assessments. To this end, our divers used a simple method of reef assessment (which has been developed by other organisations specifically for monitoring fish sanctuaries in the Philippines) so that in future, suitably trained divers within the province can monitor the sites for themselves.
Upcoming Events
We are currently planning open days for children to visit our site in the near future and are always keen to organise educational events in Southern Leyte.
