Reefs are protected by the people who live and work beside them. We work alongside government agencies, twelve local governments, scientists and educators, the dive industry, and the funders who keep our programmes running.
Here is who they are, and what we do together.
Government agencies
Environment and Natural Resources Division, Province of Negros Oriental
The province's environment division works closely with us on coral reef conservation. We host and run scuba training for ENRD staff, and support their fieldwork and studies with logistics.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources
We are a partner in DENR's Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Management Program (CMEMP). We also host and run training for DENR staff in scuba diving, monitoring methods and statistical analysis.
Local governments
In the Philippines, coastal towns manage the sea up to 15 kilometres from their shore, including the Marine Protected Areas within it. That makes local governments our closest partners. We work with twelve of them, and with every Marine Protected Area in their waters.
We monitor the reefs along the coasts of Zamboanguita, Siaton and Santa Catalina, and operate under the auspices of all three. We lend manpower, advice, and practical and technical help to their Bantay Dagat sea wardens, People's Organisations and local government offices.
Bais City, Amlan, Tanjay City, San Jose and Sibulan manage their coastal waters together as the BATASS alliance. We have worked with the alliance since 2024, as its technical support partner for marine conservation. We have trained government dive teams from all five, so they can work together in their Marine Protected Areas: removing ghost nets, marking out protected zones and running underwater clean-ups. In Bais we have also worked with DENR and the city to turn abandoned fishponds back into mangroves.
Bindoy, Ayungon, Tayasan and Manjuyod, north of Bais along the Tañon Strait, manage their coastal waters together as the BATMAN alliance. Our role here is the same as with BATASS: we have been the alliance's technical support partner for marine conservation since 2024, and have trained government dive teams from all four municipalities for joint work in their Marine Protected Areas.
Science and education
Dumaguete City
Under a memorandum of agreement, Silliman University helps us with carbon analysis and soil sampling in the mangrove areas we are restoring, as part of the blue carbon accreditation work we started.
Centre for Global Citizenship Studies, London
CGCS lets volunteers and interns earn academic credit for their stay with us: a UK Level 3 Diploma worth 16 UCAS points, or 3 US semester credits through Hartwick College.
Diving
Professional Association of Diving Instructors
Founded in 1966, PADI is the world's largest scuba training and certification agency. Many of its courses are included free for our volunteers.
Formerly Project AWARE
Started by PADI in 1989 as Project AWARE, this non-profit gets divers involved in protecting the ocean. We encourage divers to support it, and we log some of our own work in its shared database of conservation actions.
Green Fins helps dive and snorkel operators cut their impact on coral reefs, through environmental standards and regular assessments. We are an accredited Green Fins member, and used to carry out local assessments of dive operators.
Funders and NGOs
The Rufford Foundation, a UK charity funding nature conservation in developing countries, supports our alternative livelihood and mangrove conservation projects in south-east Negros.
Pro Ocean is a fellow NGO helping coastal communities fight plastic pollution. Since 2020 its funding has kept our full-time collection teams at work on beaches, in estuaries and in mangroves. Together they remove around 100 tonnes of marine litter a year, roughly 4 million pieces of plastic.
If your company, foundation or institution would like to support reef conservation in the Philippines, we would be glad to hear from you.