Newspaper article on Philippine coral reefs

[Gilligan]

I have not dove as many Philippine dive locations as World Wide Diver and I highly commend the project Gen San Chris is involved with as it seems to be a simple and inexpensive solution to areas that have sustained reef damage.

However I see a different problem aside from the dynamite fishing, which still goes on, as I have heard it myself off in the distance while diving Cabilao. Since the majority of my time diving and staying is in Bohol I'll focus on there.

Near-shore reefs (dive sites) here are being fished to extinction. Daily unregulated fishing and scuba diving don't mix. While diving I have swam up on curtain nets, see men fishing the dive sites daily and witnessed boat crews fishing out aquarium size fish to make soup with while their divers are underwater. Only one of the near-shore dive sites here is a "marine sanctuary". It has a local barangay man monitoring it, in a barangay owned house, on the hill overlooking the site. That's just not going to sustain a dive destination.

There are few large fish left on the Alona Beach area dive sites. How much longer will Bohol remain a dive destination? I don't have that answer but my common sense tells me not long at the rate it is being fished out. Development here is at a fast pace. New hotels and the addition of rooms to existing ones is ongoing. The tourists seem to be shifting more from scuba divers to middle class Filipinos from Manila and Cebu coming to Alona Beach for a weekend and/or vacation getaway. Best estimate from different hotel and dive shop staff is about 50% of the Alona tourists are scuba divers.

I wish I had the answer.

 

[World Wide Diver]

i thought studies show that the center of marine biodiversity is the verde island passage?

The Celebes Basin is the acknowledged centre of the World's marine biodiversity.

Your speculation aside, it is a fact that the Philippines have 5% World Coral reefs. 25% of the Reefs in the Philippines are in Tawi-Tawi (40mins Sipadan on the boundary).

Tawi-Tawi (Sulu Archipeligao) 302 islands forms the Western boundary of the Celebes Basin.

The Eastern boundary strethes from the Philippines island (Balut and Sarangani Islands) down to North Sulewesi (Bunaken, Lembeh).

Northern boundaries include Sarangani, Gensan, Tampuan, Maitum, Kiamba, Maitum, Palimbang then further into ' no go' areas.

We have dived many of the areas described on the Philippine side of the Celebes Basin and they are excellent.

We also have reference books about Philippine coral reefs describing the Verde Passage and other areas (some hard to find!).

All agree that the Celebes Sea has the richest reefs and marine biodiversity,

So, please can you state your source of information which says that the Verde Passage is the ' bulls eye' of the Coral Triangle over the Celebes Sea. .pdf downloads would be good. Thanks

 

[World Wide Diver]

I am happy to post a hi-res map of this area if people are struggling with the geography.

 

[jigo]

for those who are struggling with using google:
1. type http:// google. com
2. in the small rectangular box under the word GOOGLE, type "verde island center of marine biodiversity"
3. click on as many of the links that appear until you have read enough

 

[chip104]

HAY GUYS SINCE THE CELEBES SEA IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CORAL TRIANGLE THIS MUST BE WHERE THE HIGHEST BIODIVERSITY IS LOCATED. I HAZ A MAP, OK?

You fail to grasp science. "all agree that the Celebes Sea has the richest reefs and marine biodiversity"???

Go do your homework before spouting utter crap.

 

[jigo]

"must be .... must be...."

look who's speculating....

 

[World Wide Diver]

Originally Posted by World Wide Diver
HAY GUYS SINCE THE CELEBES SEA IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CORAL TRIANGLE THIS MUST BE WHERE THE HIGHEST BIODIVERSITY IS LOCATED. I HAZ A MAP, OK?

No, no Chip - surely you mean Canada here!!!!!

 

[World Wide Diver]

And, Chip, surely you mean 'HAZ ZE' map as French Canadians would say.

 

[World Wide Diver]

Because:

Originally Posted by World Wide Diver
HAY GUYS SINCE THE CELEBES SEA IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CORAL TRIANGLE THIS MUST BE WHERE THE HIGHEST BIODIVERSITY IS LOCATED. I HAZ A MAP, OK?

Was not posted by me and makes you a prick.

Go Google 'prick' and see what you get; this is what you are. A 'prick'.

 

[World Wide Diver]

For others, please see PhilReefs on the Web - Home which gives very good info about Philippine coral reefs.

Verde Passage is very good, but does not have the recorded higher biodiversity of life for reefs fringing the Celebes Basin.

And, the Verde Passage marine life has been destroyed by blast fishing, tropical fish collection, overfishing and lack of protection (even though this area is closer to the capital of the Philippines than Mindanao). This area is recorded has having deteriorated badly over the past decade.

Verde Passage is also seldom visited by divers from this forum (or seems to be!) by those who like think that they can corroborate/report that this is the best place in the PI's (lack of info, photos, links, etc from them, etc - the norm BS reports).

Therefore, we - and others - can only believe what is written in reports about this area (as per weblink). We have dived many areas within the Celebes Basin and found these to be excellent. This is unlike some areas in the PI's (which we have dived) which are promoted by many as 'the best' but simply are not.

We compare these to the best dive sites in Micronesia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippine Islands.

It all depends upon your experience and expectations. This is the bottom line.

But, for me, I want to dive the best areas in the World. This is why I stick my neck out and travel to/dive remote areas that most Filipinos do not know; more foreign divers come to these places then they do.

This is because people are scared to dive many areas.