Monday, October 30, 2006 Waves batter coral rehab project
DIVE experts said conservation efforts in Sarangani Bay and Celebes Sea suffered a major blow from the dozens of storms or typhoons that hit the Philippines this year.
Chris Dearne, spokesperson of the Sarangani Bay Divers, expressed confidence the damage wrought by the storms to the corals can still be repaired.
"Unfortunately for us, the weather has been very unkind. This has caused a slowdown of the project as the waves have been just too big and powerful to allow divers to work safely deploying the domes," Dearne said in a report released last week.
Dearne and his American friend John Heitz have been leading efforts by private groups to conserve the marine environment by dropping artificial reef domes along the coastal waters of Sarangani Bay.
"Storms have stirred up the sediments on the seabed causing the visibility to drop to zero on many occasions," Dearne revealed.
He noted that many areas in shallow reef were hard hit and whole areas of cabbage corals were flattened.
But he said these corals will soon recover.
At Kamanga offshore reef near Maasim town in Sarangani province, they discovered that more than 400 table corals were turned upside down by the storms, he said.
"As many as could be were turned back the correct way in order to give them another chance of life by the team," said Dearne, a British businessman who runs a scuba diving shop and a hotel here.
At Tuka Marine Park in Kiamba town also in Sarangani, John Heitz, another member of the Sarangani Bay Divers, said they also monitored damaged corals there.
"The typhoons (in other parts of the Philippines) triggered strong waves that damage the corals," Heitz explained.
Tuka is a 54-hectare protected marine park where various species of corals can be seen from a boat ride. It is being primed as a snorkeling haven
Heitz, an American engaged in the export of mature fresh tuna stocks, said rehabilitation of the damaged corals at Tuka will also be taken by their group.
The Sarangani Bay Divers started the project in April 2005 and has since submerged 2,990 artificial reef domes to date, Dearne reported.
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