Save The Philippine Seas

There’s no denying the striking beauty of shells and corals. That’s why, in raw or processed form, they are probably the most common “pasalubong” (souvenir) items that you can find at almost every tourist spot in the Philippines. Bringing some home as ornaments or accessories seems to be normal practice but, shells and corals actually [...]

The whale shark watching tour in Tan-awan Bay is not an entirely new tourist attraction for the town of Oslob in Cebu, but now it has certainly become popular.  Visitors used to deal directly with the fishermen to see the whale sharks, locally known as “tuki”. Now, each visitor has to register in a log [...]

The Tinoto Kamanga Marine Protected Area (TKMPA) is 45 hectares of pristine and thriving marine life just off the coast of Sarangani province. American expat and environmental advocate John Heitz described the site as having a depth of up to 250 meters and a reef wall that “extends nearly the length of the MPA, from [...]

Have you experienced dolphin/whale watching in any of the places around the Philippines where wild dolphins can be seen swimming freely?   Dolphin pods can be found in many areas in the Philippine seas.  If you’ve travelled by sea to anywhere in the country, you’ve probably seen dolphins racing right beside the ship.  The sight [...]

For quite a few months now, we’ve been receiving a steady flow of updates from contacts in a dive hub at Siaton MPA in Negros Oriental.   The lack of political will to protect the MPA and close-to-none effort from local enforcers to ward off illegal commercial fishing boats that exploit the area (200-300 meters [...]

      That’s what it says on each Starbucks cup. Look at the doodles by a friend and supporter of SPS, Ms. Kankan Ramos-Lim, on the Starbucks cup. Her designs were inspired by the rich Philippine marine life. Starbucks Philippines gives a P5 discount every time you have your drink in a mug or [...]

To most people, protecting the environment seems like such a big task, and the idea of it can be overwhelming for most. Yet simple things like being conscious of your actions and ‘thinking green’ can ultimately improve the state of not only our local rivers, mangroves, forests, and wildlife, but also the global environment. Garbage [...]

I first came across this image of corals in plastic on my teammate Anna’s Facebook wall.  It is both sad and haunting.  The plastic spoons gathered together like a ghostly memory of what once was but is no more. For now, we know that beneath the sea’s surface, there is still life but maybe not [...]