Status Monitoring of the Seagrass beds of Palawan...Objectives 1. To conduct a comparative analysis...

Status Monitoring of the

Seagrass beds of Palawan

Jesus E. Bream

Background of the study

• Since 1989, our office called PIADPO back then

was already conducting coastal resource

assessment on the municipalities in Palawan.

• Worldwide, a total of 60 species of seagrass have

been identified.

• 16 in the Philippines and 13 in Palawan.

Background of the study

• Are submerged flowering marine plants

• Serves as nursery, feeding habitat and breeding

grounds

• Ecologicially as important as mangroves, and

coral habitats

Study location

21 municipalities

13 in the North and

8 in the South

Objectives

1. To conduct a comparative analysis on the

baseline and monitoring data of the seagrass

beds of Palawan

2. To make a trending analysis on the condition of

the seagrass resources in the past 15 years

3. To provide the concerned LGU’s with information

to formulate ordinances for protected areas.

Methodology

1. The Transect quadrat sampling method was used

in all the assessment and monitoring activities

used in this study.

2. The method used was by English et al., (1997)

PCSD 2012)

PCSD 2012)

Seagrass condition in 11

municipalities based on percent cover

2.6%

28.4%

38.9%

30.2%

Baseline

Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

0.9% 5.3%

24.4%

69.4%

Monitoring

Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

Average Density in 11 municipalities

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

sho

ots

/m2

Municipality

Baseline Data

Monitoring

Data

Baseline data has an average of 16,566 while the monitoring data

Has an average of 8,335. A reduction of 8,231

Highest and lowest

recorded density

Brooke's point

(2001) Dumaran

(2010) 7598 89

Largest decrease

was seen in

Brooke's point 7598 2180

-5418

shoots/m2

Largest increase

was seen in

Araceli 2896 3166

270

shoots/m2

From 2400 shoots /m2 it went down to five times or 19.2% of its

original density

Sea-level-rise.com

Coralreefwatch.noaa.gov

Recommendations

1. Intensive information education campaign (IEC)

on the role of seagrass on the marine ecosystem

2. Strict protection, monitoring, and inclusion in

marine protected areas (MPAs) of the seagrass beds

3. Incorporating adaptive measures on the effects of

climate change on our coastal communities and

resources

Related Literature 1. Fortes, M.D., 1988. Indo-West Pacific Affinities of Philippine Seagrass. Bot

Mar 31: 237-242

2. Hemminga, M.A., Duarte C.M., 2000. Seagrass ecology. Cambridge University

Press, Cambridge, UK, p. 298

3. Meñez E.G., Phillips R.C. and Calumpong H.P. 1983. Seagrasses from the

Philippines. Smithsonian Contributions to the Marine Sciences 21.

4. Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Staff- Technical Services

Division (PCSDS-TSD), 2001. Coastal Resource Assessment Report- Sofronio

Española

5. Short F.T., Coles R.G., Pergent-Martini C, 2001. Global seagrass distribution.

In Short F.T., Coles R.G. (eds) Global seagrass research methods, pp. 5-30.

Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

6. Trono G.C.1997. Atlas of the Seaweed Resources of the Philippines.

7. Vermaat J.E., Fortes M.D., Agawin N.S.R., Duarte C.M., Marba N., Uri J.S.,

1995. Meadow maintenance, growth and productivity in a mixed Philippine

seagrass bed. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 124: 215-225

Thank you for your time!