At Anilao – Workshop Philippines
The reef within the Anilao bay faces quite some degradation, obviously caused by untreated waste water and coastal run-off, a general problem in the Philippines and elsewhere. All the more astonishing is the still prevailing biodiversity, and many beautiful creatures, especially on the macro-scale, can be discovered. An endurance that is a sign of hope as well as a call for action.
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The owner of the Anilao Beach Club, Michael Carpenter, volunteered to be our host for the first SECORE workshop in the Philippines. Main goal of this workshop is to reach the diving community, to encourage professional and recreational divers to take a stand for coral conservation, and―no less than that―to become scientists by participating in our citizen science project. This project is initiated by the Steinhart Aquarium (California Academy of Sciences), SECORE's long-term partner. The project offers the opportunity to record spawning times of corals, identify them and share the observation via i-Naturalist. An urgently needed information, as only little is known on coral spawning times throughout the Philippines. A special post on this topic will come up soon, providing introductions how to use i-Naturalist and the newly launch 'Coral Spawning Watch', including manuals to download.
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Representatives from Xavier University, Hilly Ann Roa-Quiaoit, director of the McKeough Marine Center, and from University of the Philippines, Profirio M Alino and Patrick Cabaitan, both coral reef experts, joined us at the workshop. They presented an overview on the ongoing coral restoration research conducted in the Philippines.
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The Anilao Beach Club (ABC) is a considerately managed diving resort. Michael, a passionate diver himself, admits, “I know the reef is not in best shape, but it improved over the last ten years. We care about our reefs and have an initiative here, where every diver pays a fee that goes to the local community in order to provide an alternative income for fishermen and to support local projects.” There are other initiatives, like the EcoDivers Philippines, a several hundred people strong community, that organizes clean-ups and spreads the word for a more thoughtful diving. “Dive guides should be trained well,” stresses Michael. “There are some sort of tourists that like to take living corals as souvenirs out of the reef. A well trained dive instructor cares for the behavior of his customers.”
Michael believes that there is a future for the coral reefs of Anilao and he will further invest in this area, purchasing a live-on-board boat next year. The ABC employs locals, provides a professional education for its dive instructors and promotes community projects. Luckily the reefs at Anilao still do preserve their secrets. “It was just in front the ABC, I was 15 m deep checking a new equipment, when suddenly the reef next to me started to move,” tells Michael. “First I was kind of alarmed, but then I saw a huge whale shark ascending from the seafloor. Its an oddity in this area. I swam with it for about 10 minutes, it was just magical. I felt a kind of connection between the two of us, although the animal probably cared less,” he says with a smile.
And we say thank you for hosting us here, Michael!
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Photos of workshop © Steven Bedard
