In July, international marine conservation nonprofit Mission Blue named the Verde Island Passage (VIP) in Southern Luzon a “Hope Spot”.
The new status paves the way for additional protection for the area, a critical step in preserving the region’s rich marine biodiversity, which is under attack from industrial activities.
DLSU University Fellow and Br. Alfred Shields FSC Ocean Research Center (SHORE) Director Dr. Wilfredo Licuanan and Senior Curator of Invertebrate Zoology at California Academy of Sciences Dr.
Terrence Gosliner were named Hope Spot Champions for their efforts to push for the expansion of the VIP Marine Protected Area (MPA) Network, which covers 1.14 million hectares of coral reef and has been described as one of the most biodiverse places on earth.
Gosliner and Licuanan, with their partner institutions, have been conducting primary research on advancing coral rearing and spawning techniques. They are developing these to be deployed for restoration work in areas that lack natural resilience.
Part of their work is to identify particularly resilient coral species and reefs and establish national standardization across reef monitoring techniques. For this they have partnered with ABS-CBN Foundation to train community volunteers on citizen science tasks such as monitoring reefs and collecting data.
Gosliner and Licuanan are also seeking the inclusion of the VIP as a National Integrated Protected Area System of the Philippines and to have it declared as a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area by the International Maritime Organization.
