A patrol boat guards the coral reef underneath the Milky Way. Danjugan Island Marine Protected Area, Negros Occidental, Philippines. October, 2015. 

A few days ago I returned to Danjugan Island where in 1998 I learned to scuba dive and was introduced to the underwater world of the tropics through a project run by Coral Cay Conservation. Our team of international volunteers conducted the first baseline survey of the island, which is now a successful marine reserve and one of the few remaining havens for underwater life in the area. Until now the island still battles illegal fishers  who are desperate to tap the island’s plentiful marine life. Danjugan’s patrol boat guards the reefs around the clock. 

For more information on Danjugan Island, visit www.prrcf.org

A patrol boat guards the coral reef underneath the Milky Way. Danjugan Island Marine Protected Area, Negros Occidental, Philippines. October, 2015. 

A few days ago I returned to Danjugan Island where in 1998 I learned to scuba dive and was introduced to the underwater world of the tropics through a project run by Coral Cay Conservation. Our team of international volunteers conducted the first baseline survey of the island, which is now a successful marine reserve and one of the few remaining havens for underwater life in the area. Until now the island still battles illegal fishers  who are desperate to tap the island’s plentiful marine life. Danjugan’s patrol boat guards the reefs around the clock. 

For more information on Danjugan Island, visit www.prrcf.org

“Kaingeros” (slash and burn farmers), San Fernando, Philippines. April 2015. 

During one of the hottest and driest summers on record, a mother and her young children tend a fire which threatens to spread to nearby forest. 

Since 1990 Palawan been a designated Unesco Biosphere Reserve, a place where the system of government is purposefully designed for people to live and work in harmony with nature. Yet shifting cultivation – slashing and burning vegetation to plant “kaingin” upland rice – is a tradition and way of life for many Palaweños. Back when the islands were sparsely populated the impact of this type of farming was minimal but since the islands’ population has increased more than tenfold over the past seventy years it is now seen by many as a threat to one of the last remaining havens for tropical wildlife and forests.

Looking back at images of squid fishing from last summer. During December to May, Palawan’s seas are calm and squid travel close to shore to reproduce. Fishing follows the lunar cycle – during the dark nights of the new moon squid are attracted towards the lights of the fishermen’s small outrigger boats. They follow currents and many factors determine their location but news of where squid are congregating spreads quickly by word of mouth. Local fishermen bring their catch home to their families or sell to neighbouring buyers. Further out at sea larger industrial fishing boats beam super lights into the water and haul in tonnes of catch each night to be sent to Manila.