Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project (SLCRCP)

Monthly Project Update

August 2013

Location: Napantao Dive Resort, Napantao, San Francisco, Southern Leyte

Project Scientists: Alex Ferguson and Thomas Fey

SLRCP Project Aim

The Southern Leyte Coral Reef Conservation Project (SLCRCP) is a Contents collaborative project to survey the coral reefs of Sogod Bay. The programme provides training and conservation education  Latest news opportunities for local Filipinos, as part of an integrated programme to develop local capacity and ensure the long-term protection and  Educational & sustainable use of marine resources throughout the region. Coral Community Projects Cay Conservation (CCC) is working at the invitation of and in partnership with the Provincial Government of Southern Leyte and  Survey Update the Philippine Reef & Rainforest Conservation Foundation Inc (PRRCFI). Coral Cay Conservation provides the resources to help  Marine Scholarship sustain livelihoods and alleviate poverty through the protection, News restoration and management of coral reefs and tropical forests.  Marine Creature of the month

Latest News

Early August continued to be extremely busy at Napantao with our large group of volunteers progressing from dive training to our Skills Development Programme. This was an all hands on deck operation with many long running volunteers assisting the CCC staff in taking trainee volunteers through the learning process. By the time they left we were sending out 12 new Reef Check EcoDivers into the world, quite an achievement! New volunteers and a new Project Scientist, Thomas Fey, have kept our ranks from dwindling and the science still continues. Thomas completed his undergraduate degree in Environmental Science (with Marine Conservation) and has since spent several months working for marine conservation projects in the Caribbean. It has been his dream to come to South-East Asia and work for CCC for many years so he is extremely excited to get

involved.

Thomas Fey, CCC’s new Project Scientist

Southern Leyte Reef Conservation Project Philippines, August, 2013

Story of the Month

This month saw CCC taking a major step into spreading marine conservation awareness to more school children than ever before, via a Teacher Training event held at the Bontoc campus of the Southern Leyte State University.

Our Education Officer Sammie Euridge has been working closely with a former CCC Scholar, Grace Quiton, to provide materials and training regarding the marine sciences, and in particular Marine Protected Areas, to teachers throughout Southern Leyte. Grace started her own NGO, Ocean-Action Resource Centre (ORC) in Silago, after her time training with CCC with the aim of helping teachers obtain the necessary materials and knowledge needed to include more marine sciences in their classroom. As such she has designed an eight-lesson module plan which uses MPAs as the basis to illustrate key ecological principles and environmental concerns.

On Wednesday 14th of August, Sammie Euridge and Narissa Pesquera organised a trial teacher training event at SLSU Bontoc inviting interested teachers from all over Southern Leyte. The “MPA for Teachers” training pack was presented, in part, to a group of 25 elementary and secondary school teachers, Department of Education officials and other interested parties. The afternoon was a great success as it allowed us to see the module in action and to point out areas to be improved upon. Sammie, Grace and Thomas are currently working on revising the module in order to run more of such days in coming months.

This project is especially exciting as, with success, it will enable CCC to assist the hard- working teachers of Southern Leyte to educate pupils about the importance of conservation and the environment on a much larger scale.

Participants of the Teacher Training Day enjoying the interactive section of the class guides

Southern Leyte Reef Conservation Project Philippines, August, 2013

Education and Community Projects

Having completed our surveys of the proposed MPA area at Santa Paz Norte, CCC staff and volunteers held an Awareness Day Event in the town with all the Barangay invited. On August 10th 25 CCC volunteers and staff descended on the basketball court in the centre of town. First up was an intensive beach clean where 17 rice bags were filled fit to bursting with every piece of unwanted rubbish our volunteers and members of the community could find. Next up was our information lecture delivered by Project Scientist Alex Ferguson. This was designed to inform the town and Barangay Council about MPAs, what we did on their reef, how we went about it and most importantly that we will be working on a report to show our findings. We will be delivering this report soon, along with our recommendations for the proposed MPA. The lecture was well received by the Council and all interested parties. In the meantime there was no stopping the children from getting fully involved with our Education Officer’s exciting handicrafts, and trash can painting. The finale of the day came with a full production of our world famous Fred the Fish Puppet Show, led by Education Officer, Sammie Euridge, with a full cast of volunteers. This educational show designed to inform about proper marine management and the benefits of MPAs went down a storm with everyone. We were sad to go but felt it was an excellent day.

Top left: Volunteers and residents of Santa Paz Norte searching for every last piece of rubbish on the pebbly shoreline. Top right: Celebrating a job well done with over 20 bags of rubbish! Bottom photos: After being shown where the paints were the children of Santa Paz Norte couldn’t wait to decorate their trash cans with scenes from the sea.

Southern Leyte Reef Conservation Project Philippines, August, 2013

CCC Donates Textbooks to SLSU

During his visit to SLSU Bontoc for the teacher training workshop, our Project Scientist, Alex Ferguson, donated 10 “Corals of the World” textbooks to the University’s Marine Sciences department on behalf of CCC. The books came from our small library here in Napantao, San Francisco. We hope very much that the students at SLSU Bontoc will be able to use the books to their fullest extent.

Project Scientist Alex Ferguson presenting SLSU Campus Administrator Mabel R. Calva, a copy of “Corals of the World” by Dr. Elizabeth Wood

Other News

Our long serving boat Banakun came out of the water part way through this month for some much needed care. She got a full overhaul and a complete paint job and now looks fantastic again. Over the period of a week staff and volunteers scoured off all the old paint and algae before starting on the re-painting whilst our Captain Bok-Bok and Engineer Ricky did all the technical work. Bad weather associated with Habagat caused some issues with returning our beloved boat to the water but wasn’t able to keep her out forever.

Southern Leyte Reef Conservation Project Philippines, August, 2013

Top: Banakun after her refit and paint work waiting to get back in the water. Bottom: Staff and volunteers pushed, pulled and shoved our wonderful boat back into her natural habitat. Tiring work before lunch!

“Thank you so much to everyone at CCC for making my expedition in the Philippines the best 6 weeks of my life. I loved learning all the different marine creatures on the reef. Getting to survey South Wall was definitely one of the highlights. I will never forget my time here; I just wish it could have been longer!”

Vicky Scott, CCC Volunteer

Southern Leyte Reef Conservation Project Philippines, August, 2013

Survey Update

Survey background: Since January 2013, CCC has been using a new methodology to carry out our underwater surveys. The baseline assessment of the natural resources of Sogod Bay, started in 2002, has been completed as far as possible from our current location. From now on we will be focussing our efforts on assessing how these natural resources are being protected by surveying the effectiveness of the Marine Protected Areas in Sogod Bay. To do this we will be using the Reef Check survey protocol, which has been customized by CCC to perfecty fit our work in Sogod Bay. If you would like more information on our surveying please contact our Project Scientist, Thomas Fey.

Due to the busy first two weeks of August needing everyone for training and then Habagtat keeping our boat out of the water we have been unable to conduct any surveying so far this month. With the promise of getting Banakun back in the water soon and hopefully a let up in the winds we have set up surveying agreements for the MPA at Santa Sofia in Padre Burgos Municipality. Also due to the likelihood of further Habagat winds disrupting our trips we have arranged to survey a proposed MPA at Molopolo Barangay in Liloan Municipality. This second site will be sheltered from the worst of the wind and so should ensure that our teams are able to get out surveying as often as possible. Plus, we always welcome the opportunity to assess the capacity for new MPA designations. We will aim to conduct more awareness days in both Barangays as the surveys get off the ground, with the agreement of the Barangay Councils.

Marine Scholarship News

Each month CCC offers Filipino nationals who display an ambition to study and protect the vital marine ecosystems of the Philippines an opportunity to take part as a counterpart in our Marine Conservation Scholarship. The programme lasts for one month and involves training the student in SCUBA diving to the level of PADI Advanced Open Water. They then take part in an intensive Skills Development Programme giving them the knowledge and expertise to conduct sub-marine surveys of the coastline.

This month saw us being able to welcome another Scholar, Ciara “Ara” Juan, into our midst.

Ara comes from a very different background in Manila working as part of her family’s jewellery and accessories business. Having The Facts heard about us from a previous scholar, she Name: Ciara applied as soon as possible both for personal Juan interest and also as a possible path to From: Manila, Camiguin, Mindanao to be part of a similar Luzon. project there. Learning to dive has been a Work: Jeweller great thrill so far and with only “struggling with our amusing international accents” being a problem she’s settling in well.

If you would like to apply for the CCC Marine Conservation Scholarship programme or read more about it, please visit:

http://www.coralcay.org/volunteer/scholarship-opportunities/

Southern Leyte Reef Conservation Project Philippines, August, 2013

Marine Creature of the Month!

Our Marine Creature of the Month comes from the sandy bottom, you may think it looks like a flower but this Brown-Lined Paperbubble Headshield Slug (Hydatina physis) will only be found in the ocean.

The beautiful white and brown spiral pattern on the shell hints at it’s close relation to land based snails, although H. physis cannot retract it’s entire body (or mantle) into the safety of its shell. This amazing looking creature is the Brown-lined Paperbubble Headshield Slug This particular specimen Photo Credit: Max Schofield found just off Napantao beach shows a dark red colouration whereas some are much lighter in colour, all will have the bright purple-blue edging to their mantle.

This Headshield slug, from the subclass Opisthobrachia, feeds entirely upon another group of invertebrates, the polycheate worms whose segmented bodies are often buried deep within holes in the sand or in rock itself.

Learn More! To learn more about the CCC Philippines project, to join the expedition, or to find out about local Marine Scholarships, visit www.coralcay.org.