The Calamian Islands represent one of the most biodiverse rich groups of islands in the Philippines owing to the incredible range of islands, shorelines, habitats, geologic structures, oceanographic currents and interfaces with offshore systems in the South China Sea and the northern Sulu Sea. Coral reef and sea grass beds contain 70% of all the coral and sea grass species recorded in the Philippines.

Expedition Location

The Calamianes group of islands is located in the northernmost portion of Palawan Province and is comprised of the four municipal islands of Busuanga, Coron, Culion and Linapacan. The Calamianes boasts extensive fringing coral reefs, mangrove forests, sandy beaches, geologic shoreline karst and cliff formations and numerous protected bays and inlets that provide a diverse array of marine and coastal habitats.

The Calamianes Islands represent one of the most biodiverse rich groups of islands in the Philippines owing to the incredible range of islands, shorelines, habitats, geologic structures, oceanographic currents and interfaces with offshore systems in the South China Sea and the northern Sulu Sea. Coral reef and sea grass beds border virtually all of the islands and contain 70% of all the coral and sea grass species recorded in the Philippines. Fisheries are primarily reef and mangrove dependent within the near-shore waters and produce valuable catch for the live fish trade, subsistence and sale in Luzon-region markets. Offshore fisheries are generally small pelagic and include squid and cuttlefish. They depend on ocean currents in relation to the islands and offshore reefs of the South China Sea, west of Calamianes.

Coron Island is declared as an ancestral domain and protected area and identified as a tribal ancestral zone by virtue of its being part of the environmentally critical areas network. The Tagbanuas have been on the island since historical times and exercise indigenous resource management practices anchored mainly in their culture and beliefs.

Fishing is the major source of livelihood in the Calamianes Islands. About 47.4% or 34,600 individuals are engaged in fisheries and marine-based activities. The fishery consists of two main sectors, an artesanal one involving local residents engaged in subsistence-level activities and a commercial sector involving vessels from other areas. The Calamianes Islands is the center of the live reef-fish for food trade in the country with an estimated gross value at PhP 265 million in 2002. The major species targeted include groupers (Serranidae), wrasses (Labridae) and snappers (Lutjanidae).

Unfortunately some fishers still use sodium cyanide to catch these fish while this is illegal and very detrimental to coral reefs.

Coron town is the service center for visitors with more than 80% of the accommodation establishments in the Calamianes Islands. Properties operate under difficult infrastructure conditions: water, power and stock supplies are irregular. Dives are made on World War II shipwrecks and thermocline diving in island lakes as well as on the many beautiful coral reefs of the area. In all municipalities, pearl farms are an important business and cover at least 4,000 hectares of municipal waters or up to 15% of the Calamianes area. Coastal residents employed in pearl farms earn a minimum of PhP 5,000/month.

Expedition Purpose

This reef monitoring expedition will determine the present status of coral reef health in the vicinity of Coron, Palawan. The monitoring data collected will be used in comparison to baseline data collected in 2006 as the basis in future monitoring of the status of coral reef using similar methods that the team has been using in various dive sites.

The expedition results will support the current management of the Sangat Reserve and other marine protected areas in the Coron and Busuanga Islands and indicate effectiveness of protection from illegal fishing and improper tourism activities in the area.

What data was collected?

The dive volunteers and staff made surveys to document the status of the coral reefs in
Coron by collecting the following information:

Percent bottom cover of living coral
Percent bottom cover of non-living reef substrates (e.g. rock, rubble, sand, dead coral)
Percent bottom cover of other living substrates (e.g. seagrass, algae, sponges)
Fish species diversity per unit area
Total number of fish individuals per unit area
Total number of fish species on the reef
Number of indicator species per unit area (e.g. butterflyfish, giant clams, lobsters, Triton shells, Crown-of-thorns seastars and others)
Presence of large marine life (e.g. sharks, manta rays, Bumphead wrasses, sea turtles,
whales and dolphins, and others)
Causes of coral damage
Presence of visitors of intruders in the area
Effectiveness of management protection in the area

All the data collected was summarised in a report and disseminated to all interested parties in the
Philippines and elsewhere. It is helping guide and improve management efforts and provide an
indication of the condition of the reefs and marine protected areas in Camiguin Island, Philippines.

The Results

The team revisited the diverse and abundant reefs of Calamianes Islands in the municipalities of Coron,
Culion, and Busuanga in the province of Palawan in 2016 to reassess reef status after ten years, to
determine how the coral reefs were faring with increasing conservation efforts and in light of Typhoon
Haiyan (also known as Super Typhoon Yolanda), which hit the area in 2013.

The live hard coral cover in Calamianes Islands ranged from fair to good in both deep and shallow areas.
The sites with good coral cover in both deep and shallow areas were Siete Picados Marine Sanctuary,
Sangat Resort House Reef, and Lusong Island Coral Garden. From 2006 to 2016, Sangat Decalve
Marine Sanctuary had the largest live hard coral cover decrease among all sites with a 44.3% change,
while Sangat Resort House Reef’s live hard coral cover significantly increased by 70.3%. For the shallow
live hard coral cover surveys, Calumbuyan Island West had the most significant change with a 130.3%
increase.

The overall macroinvertebrate community in the eleven sites surveyed during the Saving Philippine Reefs
expedition was good. A majority of the sites had relatively high species richness, density, diversity and
evenness. Several species of commercially important and charismatic macroinvertebrate species were
also noted.

High fish biomass estimates per km2 for for target reef species were observed in four sites namely:
Sangat Coral Garden (131.1 MT), Siete Pecados (84.5 MT), Sangat House Reef (78 MT) and
Calumbuyan Island West (71.4 MT). The two sites that showed an improvement in species richness were
Siete Pecados and Calumbuyan Island West, and both also had the highest target species counts and
density counts sincethe 2006 survey. Overall, fish assemblage’s health condition in the ten sites appears
to be less than in 2006, but since much of the variation between 2006 and 2016 is in the number of
damsel fish counted, the general health of the reef and its fish biomass appear to be quite stable except
for several sites where numbers of all fish and target fish have declined.

The MPAs in Calamianes Islands were mostly established several years prior to 2006 and over the past
ten years, they have sustained and protected the coral reef resources within the MPAs. Despite being
affected by typhoons, the coral reefs in the area are in good condition. But the same can not be said
about fish resources in all of the sites, some of which show declining fish density. Target fish species
densities in the area have generally not improved since 2006. This indicates overfishing and that several
MPAs are not well protected.

Thus the following recommendations are suggested:

Establish Calumbayan Island (East and West side), Cuaming Island and Lusong Island (Site 1 and 2) as a Marine Protected Area;
Identify and address enforcement issues in all the surveyed established MPAs;
Conduct regular fish catch monitoring in order to assess the fish stock status in these areas;
Assess sites that may need coral rehabilitation;
Note the diverse macro-invertebrate resources in the area to help promote the protection of the coral reef ecosystem, and;
Increase Information, Education and Communication (IEC) efforts for the MPAs to enhance community and local government awareness about the plight and condition of their coral reef and fisheries resources, and the status of their MPAs

The Organisation

Coastal Conservation & Education Foundation

Coastal Conservation and Education Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the management and sustainable use of Philippine coastal resources through active leadership and participation of coastal communities and stakeholders. Driven by its passion to create sustainable coasts and actively engage communities, CCEF develops and disseminate tools, techniques and research for better marine management, while promoting integrated coastal management approach that includes marine protected areas (MPAs) localized law enforcement and other participatory best practices.

Find out more info here: https://www.coast.ph/

SPR Calamianes Islands, Philippines 2016