Apo reef is a beautiful and relatively remote place, that compared to many other parts of the Philippines is relatively unpopulated, however significant parts of the reef have still suffered from some serious abuse through over fishing together with destructive fishing techniques. I have been to Apo reef twice in 1994 and 2002 and did enjoyed some good diving on some of the dive sites.
Apo Reef (note: not the similarly named Apo Island, a marine reserve off Negros Island in the Southern Philippines) located off the west coast of Mindoro in the Philippines is trying to relive "old glories" and has put into place a total ban from 2nd October on "all extractive activities such as fishing, collection and harvesting of any life form"
Full article, courtesy of WWF-Philippines can be found HERE
One of the key problems with setting up these kinds of No-Take reserves is resistance from the local fishing community, to overcome this alternative sources for fishing have been developed, through installation of overshore fish aggregation devices. A local solution to the local situation, resistance will persist, but hopefully with increased fish aggregations and increased tourism, the project will be successful.
A worthwhile project to support and I hope to visit sometime soon.
Showing posts with label Coral reef status. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Coral reef status. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 October 2007
Monday, 21 May 2007
Countries with the largest coral reef systems
I was trying to find out the comparison of the total areas of reef coverage by country. The following table extracted from the UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) website, shows twenty countries with the highest total reef areas (areas in square km's)
Source : UNEP, orginal can be found here HERE
A little surprised that the Maldives was quite so low, given the size of the atolls. Other countries of note:
Sudan, ranked 24, total area 2,720
Thailand ranked 26, total area 2,130
Mozambique, ranked 28, total area 1,860
Belize , ranked 33, total area 1,330
Palau, ranked 39, total area 1,150
Thursday, 3 May 2007
Status of South East Asian Coral Reefs
This is a broad subject that I am currently researching further. However this graph, is useful pictorially about what has been happening to Coral Reefs throughout South East Asia.
Source : GCRMN
The longer the blue lines, the better and the shorter the brown line the better. I am not exactly sure of the methodology taken on this survey but my take on what this is showing is that between 1994 and 2004:
Source : GCRMN Original found here
The longer the blue lines, the better and the shorter the brown line the better. I am not exactly sure of the methodology taken on this survey but my take on what this is showing is that between 1994 and 2004:
- Indonesia has shown an improvement, critically the only country to show a decrease in the amount of coral reefs with less that 25% live coral cover (LCC)
- Malaysia has also shown an improvement, but only in the >75% LCC category.
- Vietnam has the biggest decline in LCC. Their reefs look in critical trouble.
- Myanmar's reefs look the healthiest. But no indicator of the status in 1994. Also should be noted that Myanmar has no GCRMN co-ordinator.
- Philippines has also seen a significant decline in this ten year period, especially with regards to the less than 25% LCC category.
The biggest risks to the reefs were listed as overfishing and destructive fishing.
This survey does not indicate the total area of reef coverage in those perspective countries.
More on this topic later.
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
South China Sea: Scarborough Reef used as target practice.!
This is an interesting one, that I have just discovered whilst browsing.
Scarborough Reef, located 200kms to the west of Subic Bay is an area of great biodiversity:
"The U.S. military used the reef for bombing practice during the 1990 confrontation with Iraq, complicating matters. Large and unique underwater dunelike structures of organ-pipe coral tens of meters long were used as targets. Substantial areas of coral were torn apart by the explosions." Source : World Resources Institute
Short but complete article on Reefs at Risk - Scarborough Reef can be found here
Scarborough Reef, located 200kms to the west of Subic Bay is an area of great biodiversity:
"The U.S. military used the reef for bombing practice during the 1990 confrontation with Iraq, complicating matters. Large and unique underwater dunelike structures of organ-pipe coral tens of meters long were used as targets. Substantial areas of coral were torn apart by the explosions." Source : World Resources Institute
Short but complete article on Reefs at Risk - Scarborough Reef can be found here
Monday, 30 April 2007
Closure of coral beach in Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park
The Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department announced in a notice dated 27th April the closure of the 'Coral Beach' in Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park. This is with the objective of :
"prohibiting the entry of all persons and vessels into the Area are for the protection of corals by reducing human activities and impact in the Area"
Seems a step in the right direction, however it is still possible to fish in other parts of the park with the correct permit.
Still some way to go..
Notice can be found here
"prohibiting the entry of all persons and vessels into the Area are for the protection of corals by reducing human activities and impact in the Area"
Seems a step in the right direction, however it is still possible to fish in other parts of the park with the correct permit.
Still some way to go..
Notice can be found here
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