Marine Conservation Philippines has worked on the reefs and coasts of southern Negros Oriental since 2015. What began as small baseline reef surveys has grown into four areas of work: long-term reef science, community outreach, partnership with government on coastal resource management, and conservation and habitat restoration.
Our home ground is Zamboanguita, Siaton and Santa Catalina. Through the BATASS and BATMAN municipal alliances further north, and our weekly clean-ups in Dauin and Dumaguete City, we now work in 14 municipalities along the coast of Negros Oriental.
Our research team runs long-term monitoring of reef health and biodiversity across a network of Marine Protected Areas, tracks marine debris and coastal pollution, and studies mangrove and coastal ecosystems.
Summary results are open to everyone through our Data Portal, raw survey data is shared with researchers under a data sharing agreement, and our findings feed directly into MPA management decisions.
Our researchWe run environmental education workshops in schools, barangays and local government offices, and support alternative livelihoods for local fisherfolk, such as eco-tourism and sustainable fishing gear.
Together with volunteers, students and residents, we organise hands-on mangrove planting and coastal clean-ups.
Community projectsWe work directly with local governments and national agencies on Coastal Resource Management: helping to establish and enforce Marine Protected Areas, training government dive teams and Bantay Dagat sea rangers, and providing the data behind local conservation policy.
For the BATASS and BATMAN municipal alliances, we are the technical support partner for marine conservation, and we hold a permanent seat on the Protected Area Management Board for Apo Island.
Coastal resource managementOur clean-up team is out every day, collecting litter from beaches, river mouths and mangroves across five municipalities: close to 100 tonnes a year, of which about 40% by weight is recycled. Our divers remove ghost nets and plastic from the reefs. Read more about our work on ocean plastics.
We have planted more than 31,000 mangrove trees, and are now looking for neglected fish ponds to turn back into mangrove forest.
Some of these projects are designed and carried out by our marine science interns during their placement with us, and you can browse their past research projects. Others, especially the ongoing community programmes, are run by staff and long-term volunteers all year round.
