Coral reef assessment ongoing.
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and Department of Science and Technology (DOST) are working on a coral reef assessment throughout the country to create a National Coral Reef Status next year.
Philippine Association of Marine Science Officer Dr. Cleto Nañola, in an interview, said the project started this year by various marine biologists and personnel from DENR, aiming to come up with a national status of coral reefs in the country using one methodology.
Nañola said the country already has numbers of coral reef surveys yet researchers used different survey procedures, resulting to distinctive results.
"It is important to have a uniform coral reef assessment to see and compare accurately the condition and number of functional coral reefs we have in the country," Nañola said.
However, there are also small coral reef systems left but still needs to be assessed to provide them proper protection.
He added that only 20 percent of all coral reef systems in the country are alive.
The 80 percent dead coral system is mostly due to illegal fishing and water pollution that has caused coral reef bleaching.
"This National Coral Reef Status survey will help us determine if there are new and existing coral system we have not yet discovered to establish a bigger protection to all coral reefs we have," he said.
The protection of coral reefs, he added, is important as most of the fishes Filipinos consume are stone fishes living in coral reefs.

Protecting the environment – pollution.
We will conclude by looking at some general aspects of environmental law that impact daily life and the role of government agencies tasked with implementing environmental laws.
Rights: MIRIAM TOSE MAJOME The law The Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) provides for the sustainable management of natural resources and protection of the environment, the prevention of pollution and environmental degradation, the preparation of an environmental plan and other plans for the management and protection of the environment and the establishment of the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
Examples are EMA, Radiation Protection Authority and the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
It works with local authorities in the implementation of their local environmental action plans.
EMA is one of the better-known and active government agencies and is more visible in some sectors more than others.
It is residents themselves who litter and spoil the environment.
The law imposes everyone with a duty to preserve and protect the environment.
Councils always find excuses such as lack of resources to that hinder them from collecting litter.
There are many urban areas that simply do not have waste collection services.

Deep Coral Reefs In The Hawaii Island Provide The Habitat For Shallow Reef Fishes.
A recent study unveils how the deep coral reefs in the Hawaii Island play a significant role in conserving the shallow reef fishes.
The reef fish biodiversity heavily depends on the shallow coral reefs.
More clearly, the deep coral reefs are the safe destination for the shallow coral reef fishes.
For a long time, this mesmerizing island is regarded one of the best destinations for the aquarium fish trading business.
Cori Kane and a group of student divers took the initiatives to reach more than 100 feet below the surface.
The researchers documented the existing reef fishes around the deep coral reefs.
The new research of Cori Kane is regarded as the first study about the mesophotic coral reefs that exist on the Hawaii Island, Phys.org reported.
Fishes that belong to the upper portion of the mesophotic reef system are almost similar to those fishes exist in the shallow waters.
It is quite clear that this current research study explores many important facts about the coral reef world of the Hawaii Island.

The statues, the house, and the lobster are all part of the Underwater Museum of Art, a project intended to divert scuba divers from the overused reefs in the national park Costa Occidental Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancún y Punta Nizúc.
And though it’s not hurting the reef, they fear the museum may distract from more important threats to reef health such as coastal development and inadequate water treatment.
Closing the reefs would hurt business, so divers and park managers worked together to find a compromise.
In 2009, the diving community and the protected areas commission decided to create an underwater museum.
The museum provides a habitat for new coral colonies — coral polyps can attach to the hard surface of the statutes — but at the same time, fleshy algae has moved in to the noses, ears, and mouths of the statues.
Jaime Gonzalez Cano, former director of the national park where the museum is located and one of its founders, acknowledges the threat of water pollution, but says scientists underestimate the impact scuba divers have on the reef.
In comparison, the Costa Occidental Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancún y Punta Nizúc national park in Cancún covers about 33 square miles — less than 1 percent of the size of the Cairns planning area on the Great Barrier Reef — and receives about 750,000 people per year.
He isn’t the only one who thinks divers have a negative impact on coral reefs.
Part of the problem in Cancún is that managers of protected areas don’t have the power or resources to tackle the most important threats to the reef.
Gonzalez Cano said he didn’t have the power to change public policy regarding waste-water treatment.

Now may be your last chance to see the Great Barrier Reef.
For the first time, the bleaching event immediately followed another the year before—which was the bleaching ever recorded on the reef.
Bleached corals are not necessarily dead, but the one-two punch of consecutive bleaching events all but seals a deathly fate for large swaths of the reef.
Hughes and his team conducted the aerial survey that confirmed both 2016 and 2017 bleaching events.
Rising sea temperatures driven by global warming are primarily to blame for the widespread and rapid degradation of the reef.
Four mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef have now occurred since just 1998; none had ever been recorded before that year.
Corals bleach when the water warms to a temperature above what they can tolerate.
If the warm temperatures persist, the chance of recovery goes down.
And to have a greater chance at recovery, bleached reef must be connected with healthy reef, so the reef can repopulate with new coral polyps.
Jon Brodie, a scientist who has on water quality issues affecting reefs, told the Guardian the Great Barrier Reef is now in a “terminal stage.” “We’ve given up.