Philippines community based marine conservation

Reviewed 24 Jul 2009 by Jerrine Barnett

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?

There were quite a few so it’s hard to pin them down really! I think the main thing for me was being able to scuba dive on a daily basis. I’m a keen fish lover and have always kept a tank at home but being able to see them up close and personal was amazing. At first the science training was a little daunting but it’s amazing how quickly you pick it up and I’m now proud to say that I can now recognize pretty much everything I can see in the sea (to a degree!) and might even know the Latin name for it too! I logged almost 50 dives in a month, without this trip I’d have been lucky to get this in a lifetime.

It was also great to meet lots of likeminded people and really get stuck into a completely different way of life for a whole month. We all got along really well and I was never left without someone to have a good chat and a laugh with. I think my own personal highlights included writing and putting on a puppet show for the local kids for ‘Ocean Day’, having a close encounter with a sea snake, swimming with a rather curious turtle for over 15 mins, playing twister in the rain, doing a night snorkel and finally getting to see a Mandarin Dragonet!

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?

If you’re umming and ahhhing over what trip to do then go for this one. I looked at many other places in the world to do marine conservation, including Madagascar, the Caribbean and the Seychelles and what I learned is that the Philippines has some of the best diving in the world, far superior to the areas mentioned above in terms of marine diversity. So if you love diving and want to see pristine reefs teeming with life, then this trip is the best one out there in my opinion!

Be prepared to really get stuck in. There are lots of things going on with this project, so you just need to get involved with as many as possible to get the most out of your time here. Try to get involved with the local school, you spend a lot of time on base so anything that gives you time up with the locals can only be a good thing – they’re also the friendliest people I’ve ever met, and I’ve travelled quite extensively. We painted a reef scene onto a local school wall and it was great fun, a really nice day out. The facilities on site were actually a lot better than I had in mind, we even had our own chef! But be prepared to rough it a little if you’ve never done anything like this before.

In terms of things to bring… No needs for books, there are plenty on site and you might not even get time to read anything! If, like me, you only have a month out there then try and do some science swotting and go over your PADI manuals before you come out. That will relieve some of the pressure of science week and give you more free time to do other things!

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?

Absolutely, that was the point of the trip! On a community level the majority of staff on site were locals and it was clear that they have a good relationship with everyone on these projects. Some of the science officers have set up a local women’s group and have taught them how to make crafts with natural resources, this is an on-going project and is now a regular income for these women. There are also lots of other community projects going on, I was there for Ocean Day when the local kids came down to the base to clean up the beach and we put on a show for them about protecting the reef.

The environmental benefits were also extensive. One of the aims of the project is to do baseline surveys of the area so they can track what species are to be found in the Bay and use it to evaluate the importance of the Bay in terms of biodiversity and whether it should be protected as a Marine reserve. It also it a good way to keep an eye on how things are changing over time in terms of disease growth and over fishing. Several neighbouring areas have already been converted into marine protected areas as a result of this ongoing project.

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?

This is so much more than a holiday, it’s a completely different way of life and a month here will feel like a lifetime! I spent my gap year volunteering so I’m not new to the concept of living and working abroad, however this is the first project where I really felt like I gained a new skill and could put my favourite hobby to really good use. The diving is just the best I have ever seen and it’s literally an explosion of life when you stick your head under the water, so if you’ve even a mild interest in diving then this will magnify that ten-fold! I’m itching to get back out into the water and have already planned for my next holiday to be scuba diving!