OFF the Davao coast, Kopiat Island boasts of clear and calm waters and wide sections of shoreline blanketed with fine white sand. It is a tranquil place that, once developed, could become a leading tourism destination in the Davao region.
"Kopiat Island will put Compostela Valley on the tourism map," Lucky Siegfred Balleque, the provincial project manager of the Department of Trade and Industry, told reporters last year after informing them that the DTI was negotiating with Lapanday Food Corporations and other owners for the development of the island into a world-class resort.
Traveling around the island takes about 20 minutes by motorized boat, while an inland tour of its 87 hectares takes about 45 minutes. A portion of the island encircles a seven-hectare lagoon.
Kopiat Island is just one of the four sites that was part of a recent study - "Mapping and Assessment of Mabini Protected Landscape and Seascape's Coral Reef Ecosystem and Associated Reef Fish Community" - done by the regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The study predetermined sampling sites and their respective GPS (global position system) coordinates were recorded. The coral reef stretch within the Mabini Protected Landscape and Seascape (MPLS) was divided into four sites, with Kopiat Island as Site 3. The three other sites were: Site 1 (Cadunan and Cuambog), Site 2 (Takot Dako, Takot Gamay, and Lunod), and Site 4 (Tagnanan).
Kopiat Island hosts unspoiled reefs with rare coral beds that are home to exotic marine life. Just 200 meters away from the island's shoreline, snorkelers can get close to the various species of colorful corals, both hard and soft. However, you can already get a glimpse of the beautiful corals just by looking down into the water from the boat.
"We are trying to protect these coral reefs from people who want to harvest them for aesthetic purposes in their homes," says Christine T. Dompor, the provincial tourism officer.
A new study showed that of the 72 genera of Scleractinian corals identified in the Philippines, about 46 of them can be found in the waters of Mabini, Compostela Valley. There are about 110 genera of Scleractinian corals identified worldwide.
"We have more Scleratinian corals compared to those found in the Island Garden City of Samal and in Davao Oriental," says Christine T. Dompor, the provincial tourism officer. "There is also one type of corals which the researchers could not identify since it is not found in their list of classification."
It's no wonder why marine biologists are now calling the area as the Jewel of the Davao Gulf, which has an area of 308,000 hectares. Davao Gulf cuts into the island of Mindanao from Philippine Sea. It is surrounded by all four provinces in the Davao Region. The largest island in the gulf is Samal Island. Davao City, on the gulf's west coast, is the largest and busiest port on the gulf.
"The (recent discovery) just shows there is a dearth of information out there and it is becoming a race to get this knowledge before more and more of the marine environment gets destroyed," deplores Dr. Arnel "AA" Yaptinchay, founder and director of the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines. "It also confirms again and again, the importance of the Philippines in marine biodiversity."
Scleractinia, also called stony corals, are marine corals that generate a hard skeleton. They first appeared in the Middle Triassic and descended from the tabulate and rugose corals that barely survived the end of the Permian. Much of the framework of modern coral reefs is formed by Scleractinians.
But that's going ahead of the story. How did they come up with the discovery?
According to the DENR Administrative Order No. 2013-12 (Guidelines for the Implementation of the Sustainable Coral Reef Ecosystems Management Program), coral reef cover can be estimated through line intercept transect (LIT) method, which assess the sessile benthic community of coral reefs.
At each point where the benthic life form changes, the observer recorded the transition point in centimeters and the code of the life forms. Fish visual census was used to quantify fish species’ size and abundance. The diver observed in every 5-meter mark with a 5-meter wide area as fish species and families were noted.
In the MPLS coral reef mapping, a hand held GPS receiver was used. The study found that MPLS still has 53.40 live coral cover. The overall status of the coral reefs is still in "good condition," the researchers found out.
According to Linda Arbial, regional head of Sustainable Coral Reef Ecosystems Management Program, there was a sighting of humpback grouper in the area. There were also five nesting sites of marine turtle in the whole protected area. Two species — the hawksbill and the leatherback turtle — lay their eggs on the Kopiat coast.
Not far from Kopiat Island is the appropriately named Lunod Island: more than half of its 17 hectares is occupied by submerged mangrove forest teeming with beautiful sea creatures. Its rich coral gardens are spawning grounds for fish, crustaceans, and other marine life.
It takes about 15 minutes, by boat, to reach the island from the municipality of Mabini on the mainland. A night tour of the island is a wonderful experience, lit by the glittering fireflies that abound there. Mabini, formerly known as Dona Alicia, is a third class municipality. It was given its modern name only in 1954, in honor of brain of revolution, Apolinario Mabini.