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National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS)

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    Increased coral larval supply enhances recruitment for coral and fish habitat restoration
    Harrison, Peter L.; dela Cruz, Dexter W.; Cameron, Kerry A.; Cabaitan, Patrick C. (Frontiers Media SA, 2021-12-01)
    Loss of foundation reef-corals is eroding the viability of reef communities and ecosystem function in many regions globally. Coral populations are naturally resilient but when breeding corals decline, larval supply becomes limiting and natural recruitment is insufficient for maintaining or restoring depleted populations. Passive management approaches are important but in some regions they are proving inadequate for protecting reefs, therefore active additional intervention and effective coral restoration techniques are needed. Coral spawning events produce trillions of embryos that can be used for mass larval rearing and settlement on degraded but recoverable reef areas. We supplied 4.6 million Acropora tenuis larvae contained in fine mesh enclosures in situ on three degraded reef plots in the northwestern Philippines during a five day settlement period to initiate restoration. Initial mean larval settlement was very high (210.2 ± 86.4 spat per tile) on natural coral skeleton settlement tiles in the larval-enhanced plots, whereas no larvae settled on tiles in control plots. High mortality occurred during early post-settlement life stages as expected, however, juvenile coral survivorship stabilised once colonies had grown into visible-sized recruits on the reef by 10 months. Most recruits survived and grew rapidly, resulting in significantly increased rates of coral recruitment and density in larval-enhanced plots. After two years growth, mean colony size reached 11.1 ± 0.61 cm mean diameter, and colonies larger than 13 cm mean diameter were gravid and spawned, the fastest growth to reproductive size recorded for broadcast spawning corals. After three years, mean colony size reached 17 ± 1.7 cm mean diameter, with a mean density of 5.7 ± 1.25 colonies per m–2, and most colonies were sexually reproductive. Coral cover increased significantly in larval plots compared with control plots, primarily from A. tenuis recruitment and growth. Total production cost for each of the 220 colonies within the restored breeding population after three years was United States $17.80 per colony. A small but significant increase in fish abundance occurred in larval plots in 2018, with higher abundance of pomacentrids and corallivore chaetodontids coinciding with growth of A. tenuis colonies. In addition, innovative techniques for capturing coral spawn slicks and larval culture in pools in situ were successfully developed that can be scaled-up for mass production of larvae on reefs in future. These results confirm that enhancing larval supply significantly increases settlement and coral recruitment on reefs, enabling rapid re-establishment of breeding coral populations and enhancing fish abundance, even on degraded reef areas.
    We thank the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) for funding this research: grant ACIAR/FIS/2014/063 to PH, PC and J. Bennett. Thanks to ACIAR staff Chris Barlow, Ann Fleming, and Mai Alagcan for their ongoing support. Sincere thanks to the Galsim Family for use of Tanduyong Island as a field research base during the coral restoration fieldwork. We also thank staff and students at the Bolinao Marine Laboratory, Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines, Diliman for their assistance with reef work: Elizabeth Gomez, Charlon Ligson, Rickdane Gomez and Fernando Castrence (including fish surveys), Marcos Ponce, Joey Cabasan, Sheldon Boco, Gabriel de Guzman, Albert Ponce, and Allan Abuan. We also thank Grant Cameron for field support and helping design, build and refine the prototype floating spawn catcher frames in 2016 and 2017.
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    DOT welcomes Philippines’ 3 Condé Nast Traveler citations
    (Philippine Manila Standard Publishing, Inc., 2018-10-13)
    Boracay, which is currently undergoing rehabilitation and is set for its soft opening on October 26, was voted as second and described as “close to a tropical idyll as you’ll find in Southeast Asia with gentle coastlines and made-for-Instagram sunsets.” “We would like to take this opportunity to tell our tourists to manage their expectations on Boracay’s soft opening. We also encourage them to be mindful and responsible tourists of the island,” Secretary Romulo-Puyat added. Condé Nast also named Palawan as Asia’s third top island stating “Palawan is home to the otherworldly Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, a UNESCO World Heritage Site worth the trip alone.”
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    US pays P87m for Tubbataha reef damage
    Barcelo, Vito; Solmerin, Florante (Philippine Manila Standard Publishing, Inc., 2015-02-19)
    The Philippine government has received P87.03 million from the US government as payment for the damage caused by a US Navy minesweeper that ran aground on a protected coral reef two years ago, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. The minesweeper USS Guardian ran aground and caused damage to the Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage Site in Palawan, in 2013. “The compensation will be utilized for the protection and rehabilitation of Tubbataha Reef Natural Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Portions of the fund will also be used to further enhance capability to monitor the area and prevent similar incidents in the future,” the DFA said in a statement.
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    Reef Alert
    (Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inc., 2016-10-09)
    There is no way attention will be directed at the crying urgency of protecting the coral reefs unless we belabor the issue and repeat ourselves. At the rate coral reefs are being destroyed by human activity or damaged by bleaching due to global warming, it won’t be long before these “colorful gardens under the sea where marine life thrives” die off, never to be appreciated by future generations. Indeed, though the Philippines is “the richest place on earth” in terms of biodiversity, according to scientist Wilfredo Licuanan, he has warned that because of climate change, “we can lose our corals in a matter of weeks, not years.”