The Philippine Government is worried
about the decline in the size and quality of it's Coral Reefs, which
provide livelihood for local fishermen and local jobs in tourism and
recreational scuba diving. Protection is by far the best and most
economical way to help Coral Reefs survive. Philippine Laws have
already been implemented to protect the Coral Reefs through strict
controls on mining, fishing and pollution. They need maximum
enforcement to save the remaining Coral Reefs!
But what can be done to restore reefs already destroyed by present and past bad practices such as fish-cages and dynamite fishing or natural disasters like storm, El Nino driven coral bleaching or Crown Of Thorns Starfish plague? The Department of Science and Technology has initiated the "Filipinnovation of Coral Reef Restoration" project, under the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) to do coral reef restoration; through public-private cooperation.
What is Coral Reef restoration? It is
proven that damaged coral reefs can recover in managed areas, such as
Marine Protected Areas (MPA), that are free of human pressures such
as over-fishing and pollution. But destroyed coral reefs cannot easily
recover due to the lack of live corals in the immediate area. Coral
Reef restoration is the process of collecting live Corals that have been broken area and moving them to a target area for cultivation
and planting.
The cultivating is done in Coral
Nursery Units which are clusters of 3-meter by 1-meter frames made of
blue plastic water pipe, strung with nylon webbing, standing on metal
legs and anchored to the sea bottom. Pieces of live coral are placed
upright in the webbing and are tended daily to ensure they remain
stable and free of sand, algae or tunicates which prevent their
growth. Once a piece shows significant signs of growth, they are
individually removed from the Nursery and literally planted in a
suitable spot in the MPA.
The process is obviously labour
intensive and, in addition to needing a nearby source of already
broken but live corals, requires scuba diving skills and equipment to
work underwater for 3-6 hours every day. The "Filipinnovation of
Coral Reef Restoration" project has cleverly, and perhaps
uniquely, married the Philippine Government's capability to provide
qualified Marine Biologists and project funding with the commercial
interests and resources of scuba dive shop operators around the
country.
In Southern Leyte, the Coral Reef
restoration pilot project is being implemented in Lungsodaan, Padre
Burgos. To manage the project, PCAARRD have contracted the University
of San Carlos (USC) of Cebu City, Cebu. USC provides a Marine Biology
Professor as Project Leader and a Marine Biology School
under-graduate student as Project Development Officer. Southern Leyte
State University students work as volunteers. That's the Public side.
Sogod Bay Scuba Resort (SBSR), located
in Lungsodaan, Padre Burgos has been the private-enterprise part of this
public-private cooperation so far. Since the local project began in May
2012, Sogod Bay Scuba Resort has provided logistical support to the
project, helping find and collect broken corals for transplanting and supplying air-filled scuba tanks for the government team. By the time the
project ends in April of 2013, the government team targets to plant
approximately 1-hectare or 10,000 individual fragments.
It is envisaged that at the end of the government project Sogod Bay Scuba
Resort and the Lungsodaan Local Government Unit will take
joint-ownership of 10 of the 40 Coral Nursery Units in the Lungsodaan
MPA and will continue to grow new corals for planting the 4-hectare site.
The remaining 30 Coral Nursery Units will be distributed around the
Sogod Bay area, in groups of 10, with other Barangay LGUs and dive
shop operators taking ownership of these and carry-on the woork of planting new live corals.
This is a great example of
government-private vision, cooperation and commitment of resources;
in this case to restore an important natural resource and source of
livelihood for local fishermen and for tourism within Southern Leyte.
It is a positive example of Government in action and another
demonstration of the contribution that scuba dive operators can make
to local communities.
A great win-win battle for the Coral
Reefs.
For more information, contact...
southern leyte state university: Homer
Yray homeryray@yahoo.com
University of San Carlos (USC): Ethel
C Wargas ecwargas@gmail.com
Philippine Council for Agriculture,
Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD)
www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph
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