Tubbataha Reef

Category: Marine and Oceanic Biomes.

Geographic Location: Asia.

Summary: This World Heritage Site is a rich coral habitat that faces several threats, but has begun to be better managed and protected.

Tubbataha Reef is a coral atoll reef in the Sulu Sea, part of the territory of the Philippines. The reef is protected as part of Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park and is also a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, since 1993. Protected by the Philippines Department of National Defense, the reef has two atolls, North and South Reefs. At low tide, the atolls are exposed to the air and connected, resulting in the tubbataha name which means a long reef exposed at low tide. The park is managed and patrolled by rangers year round, and is under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Cagayancillo, 81 miles (130 kilometers) to the north.

Diverse Biota

The special marine sanctuary status of the Tubbataha Reef area exists because the reef harbors some of the highest diversity of marine life found anywhere on the planet. There more than 1,000 species of marine animals overall, with more than 360 species of corals and 600 species of fish. The colorful reefs teem with life and also harbor many big marine animals such as manta rays, sea turtles, 12 species of sharks, and 13 species of dolphins and whales.

Established in 1988, the marine sanctuary had a total area of 128 square miles (332 square kilometers). In 2006, the park boundaries were increased by 200 percent: It is now 374 square miles (968 square kilometers).

Because of the amazing richness of marine life in the region, the park is considered a prime destination for avid divers and underwater photographers who flock to the area during Tubbataha Season, mid-March to mid-June. The usual starting point is Puerto Princessa City, 93 miles (150 kilometers) to the northwest of the marine park; here, the many coral walls, where shallow reefs abruptly drop to great depths, attract divers. Such walls offer an impressive perspective into the massiveness of coral reefs and also offer the opportunity to see many kinds of fish, from smaller types living along the walls—such as parrotfish, Moorish idols, moray eels, anemone fish, damselfish, and butterflyfish—to pelagic, or open ocean, species such as barracudas, giant trevally, and sharks.

The Tubbataha Reef also harbors many globally endangered species, such as the hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata).

The importance of this national marine park has been recently highlighted by marine ecology studies showing that Tubbataha Reef acts as a marine species seed bank for the region, sourcing coral and fish larvae out to the greater Sulu Sea area, and helping maintain coral and fish populations far beyond park boundaries. This is important because the Philippines is a tropical island nation and, like many other tropical island nations, highly dependent on marine resources for food and livelihoods. It is vital environmentally as well, due to this seeding function and the role it is thought to play in the broader western Pacific Ocean region.

Threats and Protection

In 2009, the Tubbataha Reef experienced a crown-of-thorns sea star infestation. The crown-of-thorns sea star (Acanthaster planci) is the second-largest sea star in the world, ranging from 10 to 14 inches (250 to 350 millimeters). It has venomous spines and feeds on coral polyps. Outbreaks of such sea stars on coral reefs often result in large-scale wipeout of corals unless there are reef managers controlling the crown-of-thorns populations. The infestation on Tubbataha Reef was notable, but not disastrous for the reef. Marine ecologists and reef managers are investigating what causes these outbreaks to prevent them in the future, and to develop ways to mitigate their effects on the functioning of the coral reef ecosystem.

Tubbataha Reef has been well known to Filipino fishers for many years. Before the 1980s, it was mostly subsistence, artisanal fishermen from the closest municipality who would go during the summertime south to Tubbataha in small wooden sailboats. In the 1980s, access to the reef and fish resources increased with greater use of motorized boats. This fact, in addition to the increased use of destructive fishing practices (such as poison fishing and dynamite blast fishing), eventually led to public outcry in the late 1980s.

As a result, the provincial government of the Palawan region teamed with environmentalists and requested presidential endorsement to protect the reefs in the Tubbataha region. This initiative led, in 1988, to president Corazon Aquino declaring support for the establishment of Tubbataha as a national marine park.

Park enforcement and protection is carried out via a field station based on North Atoll. The station hosts park rangers from the Philippines navy and coast guard, the municipality of Cagayancillo, and the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO). TMO is responsible for day-to-day park operations and is the executive arm of the reef management body, the Tubbataha Protected Area Management Board (TRAMB).

Well-managed marine protected areas (MPAs) have shown that with good practices, fish populations increase both inside and outside the MPAs, leading to higher fish catch in nearby communities, and healthier biomes overall. Fishers across the Philippines have witnessed for themselves such positive outcomes; hence, one of the main goals of Tubbataha Reef and its management team is the preservation and conservation of marine biodiversity, which helps maintain natural resource productivity. In other words, MPAs such as Tubbataha Reef help save reefs without destroying subsistence fishers’ livelihoods.

The Tubbataha Reef is also known as a bird sanctuary; an above-the-tides islet at South Atoll harbors large populations of nesting masked red-footed boobies, terns, and frigate birds, with more than 100 species of birds. There is a small monitoring station operated by the Philippine Coast Guard at one of the permanent sandbars, aimed at protecting the large bird nesting areas from intrusions.

Despite the threats from invasive starfish and coral bleaching caused by climate change, the International Union for Conservation of Nature classified the outlook for Tubbataha Reef Natural Park as “good with some concerns” in a 2020 assessment.

Bibliography

Bos, Arthur R. “Crown-of-Thorns Outbreak at the Tubbataha Reefs UNESCO World Heritage Site.” Zoological Studies 49, no. 1 (2010).

Palawan Council for Sustainable Development. “Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park.” Office of the President of the Philippines. http://pcsd.ph/protected‗areas/tubbataha.htm.

Tubbataha Management Office. “Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.” http://www.tubbatahareef.org.

“Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park.” International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2 Dec. 2020, worldheritageoutlook.iucn.org/explore-sites/wdpaid/68917. Accessed 29 Aug. 2022.