Coral Cay Conservation is now part of Marine Conservation Philippines

Coral Cay Conservation worked with coastal communities, volunteers, and researchers on reef conservation projects around the world, including a long-running programme in Southern Leyte, Philippines, based at Napantao from 2008. CCC’s operations closed in 2022. What remained was a significant archive: survey data, published research, training materials, and the record and fond memories of thousands of volunteers who took part in its work over 36 years.

Marine Conservation Philippines has since acquired the Coral Cay Conservation name and its digital archive, to preserve that history and keep it accessible, both to the people who were part of it and to those who still want to volunteer for reef conservation today.

Thirty-six years of volunteer reef science

Peter Raines founded Coral Cay Conservation in Belize in 1986. His idea was to train volunteers with no diving or science background to survey reefs to a professional standard, at a time when there were nowhere near enough trained scientists to do it. In 1986 that was close to unheard of. Today we call it citizen science.

Over the next 36 years, CCC worked in at least thirteen countries, always at the invitation of a host government or community. Its volunteers surveyed the Belize reef system later listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its survey work in Cambodia fed into the country’s first large-scale Marine Protected Area.

In the Philippines, CCC surveyed rainforest wildlife on Negros, the island MCP calls home, and from 2002 ran a marine project in Southern Leyte, based at Napantao from 2008. There, CCC helped local communities set up around ten community-managed Marine Protected Areas across Sogod Bay. It became the project CCC was best known for, and in the end, its last.

How CCC’s story ended

Through the late 2010s, CCC’s projects closed one by one until Southern Leyte was the only one left. When COVID-19 stopped international travel in 2020, Napantao closed too. An attempt to restart in 2022 did not work out, and by the end of that year CCC’s operations had closed for good. What remained was an archive: survey data, reports, published research and training materials, along with the memories of thousands of volunteers. Without a home, much of it could easily have disappeared.

Why MCP

MCP was founded in 2015 in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental, and works in much the same way CCC did. Our volunteers train as scientific divers and survey the reefs of Zamboanguita, Siaton and Santa Catalina, and our data supports the management of the Marine Protected Areas along this coast, working with the local government units. We also hold a permanent seat on the Protected Area Management Board for Apo Island.

Alistair Cole, who led CCC from 2011 until it closed in 2022, saw the connection too. His full statement is on our Coral Cay Conservation page. In it, he writes:

“I could not wish for a better successor NGO in the Philippines to carry the torch forward.”
Alistair Cole, Director of Coral Cay Conservation (2011-2022)

This is not about adding a well-known and respected name to our own, or to steal credit. CCC’s staff and the decades of volunteers did remarkable work, and it deserves to be acknowledged and remembered fairly.

What you’ll find on the new CCC pages

• History of CCC tells the full story, from Belize in 1986 to the final seasons at Napantao.
• Reports & Scientific Papers is where CCC’s research and survey reports are being made available again.
• Alumni brings together memories from former volunteers, CCC’s social channels, especially the facebook page. We also have an offer for alumni who want to get back in the water.

The alumni are already finding each other

The Coral Cay Conservation Facebook page is already full of former volunteers and staff posting old expedition photos, tagging the people they shared a base with, and swapping memories of survey dives and base life. Some of the pictures go back decades. It has been a real pleasure to watch, and a reminder of why this was worth doing.

If you were one of them, we would love to hear from you:

• Share your photos on the Facebook page, tag the people you shared a base with, and say where and when you were there, so old friends can find you.
• Help us get the history right. Read the History of CCC and tell us what is missing or wrong. You were there, and we were not.
• Come diving with us. CCC alumni (do kindly provide us with proof) get a 10% discount on volunteering with MCP. Just mention in your volunteer application that you volunteered with CCC.

The work carries on

CCC’s story does not end with an archive. Reefs still need people willing to get in the water for them, and that work carries on here in Negros Oriental every day. If you spent time at Coral Cay, and that stay gave you a skill, a friendship or a new sense of direction in life and a new understanding of what you could do, you are welcome to be part of what comes next, as a volunteer or with a donation.

With utmost respect for the effort and legacy of CCC,
The entire team at Marine Conservation Philippines