Celebrating Saving Philippine Reefs 25th year in Calamianes Islands, Palawan

 
SPR 2016 Team
Camillia Jane Bollozos | June 29, 2016

The 25th Saving Philippine Reefs (SPR) annual expedition was conducted in the Calamianes Islands, in northern Palawan last April 17 to 25, 2016. Led by CCEFs’ President and Secretary Dr. Alan and Evangeline White, a diverse but select group of volunteers from the US, Australia, UK and the Philippines joined the underwater expedition to assess coral reef health, reef fish abundance and biomass and invertebrate diversity in at least nine reefs within the Calamianes.

The SPR team first visited the area in 2006 and was thus able to reassess reef status after 10 years to determine how the coral reefs are faring with increasing conservation efforts and in light of Typhoon Haiyan (also known as Super Typhoon Yolanda) which hit the area in 2013.

The 2016 SPR expedition was done in coordination with the Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvest (FISH) Project Palawan staff, the local government units in the islands, particularly Coron and Busuanga, and the various MPA management bodies. (For more info on SPR, please see: http://www.coast.ph/our-work/projects/saving-philippine-reefs).

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