National Committee on Marine Sciences (NCMS)
Permanent URI for this communityhttps://repository.unesco.gov.ph/handle/123456789/6
Browse
4 results
Search Results
- MPA-FishMApp – a citizen science app that simplifies monitoring of coral reef fish density and biomass in marine protected areasAbesamis, Rene; Balingit, Rodel; de Castro, Romulo; Aguila, Raphael Nelo; Cabiguin, Maryjune; Villagracia, Julius; Susmeña, Marynoll; Montemar, Mario Neil; Yocor, Antonio (National Fisheries Research and Development Institute, 2022-12)Monitoring changes in fish density and biomass inside marine protected areas (MPAs) through fish visual census (FVC) can determine if MPAs are achieving their goal of promoting fish population recovery. Simplified FVC methods have been developed for citizen scientists to enable them to monitor fish populations in MPAs. However, MPA monitoring programs led by local stakeholders remain rare and difficult to sustain due to technical barriers related to FVC data management. Here, we describe and evaluate a novel online app called MPA-FishMApp, which we developed to help stakeholders of MPAs that protect coral reefs in the Philippines efficiently store, analyze, and visualize FVC data. MPA-FishMApp is coupled to a simplified FVC method wherein the observer records only 21 reef fish species groups during surveys. The app provides a simple data entry interface, cloud storage, and algorithms to estimate fish density and biomass. Spatial and temporal trends in fish density and biomass can be instantaneously visualized in the app based on relative importance to fisheries. Field testing suggested that the MPA-FishMApp methodology (simplified FVC and app) is sensitive enough to detect qualitative patterns showing differences in density and biomass that may develop between MPAs and fished sites, especially in fishes that are highly important to fisheries. However, users must have sufficient training and experience in simplified FVC to produce reliable data. MPA-FishMApp may help reverse the lack of monitoring in MPAs across the Philippines and offers an accessible, transparent, and auditable venue for collaboration between citizen scientists and professional scientists.
- Intact shallow and mesophotic assemblages of large carnivorous reef fishes underscore the importance of large and remote protected areas in the Coral TriangleSalvador, Mikaela L.; Utzurrum, Jean Asuncion T.; Murray, Ryan; Delijero, Kymry; Conales, Segundo F.; Bird, Christopher E.; Gauthier, David T.; Abesamis, Rene A. (Wiley, 2024-02-23)1. Overfishing remains a threat to coral reef fishes worldwide, with large carnivores often disproportionately vulnerable. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can restore fish populations and biodiversity, but their effect has been understudied in mesophotic coral ecosystems (MCEs), particularly in the Coral Triangle. 2. Videos were analysed from baited remote underwater video systems deployed in 2016 to investigate the assemblage structure of large carnivorous fishes at shallow (4–12 m) and mesophotic (45–96 m) depths in two of the largest and most isolated MPAs in the Philippines: an uninhabited, fully no-take MPA enacted in 1988 (Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park) and an archipelagic municipality surrounded by an extensive but not fully no-take MPA declared in 2016 (Cagayancillo). Taxa focused on were groupers (Serranidae), snappers (Lutjanidae), emperors (Lethrinidae), jacks (Carangidae) and the endangered Cheilinus undulatus (Labridae). 3. Mean abundance and species richness were not greater in TRNP than in Cagayancillo regardless of depth despite long-term protection in the former. Limited impacts of fishing in Cagayancillo may explain this result. Differentiation of fish assemblages was evident between TRNP and Cagayancillo but more obvious between depths at each location, probably due more to habitat than MPA effects. In Cagayancillo, overall carnivorous reef fish, grouper and jack mean abundance were 2, 2 and 10 times higher, respectively, at mesophotic depths, suggesting that MCEs can serve as deep refugia from fishing. 4. These findings of differentiation between depths and higher abundance of certain taxa in mesophotic depths emphasize that MCEs are distinct from shallow reefs, serve as important habitat for species susceptible to overfishing and, thus, must be explicitly included in the design of MPAs. This study also highlights the value of maintaining strict protection of MPAs like TRNP for the Coral Triangle and an opportunity to safeguard intact fish assemblages in Cagayancillo by expanding its no-take zones.
- WPS marine ecosystem threats resolution eyedKabagani, Lade (Concept & Information Group, Inc., 2022-10-30)The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources are partnering with United States Agency for International Development to address the marine ecosystem threats in the West Philippine Sea. The move is pushed through the USAID’s “Fish Right Program” by the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center and its local colleagues.
- Saving coastal, marine environment through Marine Protected AreasMayuga, Jonathan L. (Philippine Business Daily Mirror Publishing, Inc., 2022-07-31)As part of the Plastic Free July, a global movement that amplifies the call for strengthened efforts to solve the global plastic crisis, ocean conservation advocate nongovernment organization, Oceana Philippines, called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to protect marine protected areas against plastic pollution. Environmental lawyer Gloria Estenzo-Ramos, vice president of Oceana Philippines, said the country’s marine ecosystems hold immense potential in the efforts to curb the impact of the global food crisis. But the threat of destruction and losses is becoming more pronounced as plastic waste make their way to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that are supposed to be set aside for conservation in different parts of the country.