The Danajon Bank is the only double

barrier reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, which is a very rare geological formation, which is located in the

Camotes Sea The Camotes Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Central Visayan and the Eastern Visayan regions. It separates Cebu from Leyte hence is bordered by Cebu to the west, Leyte to the east and north, and Boho ...

. It comprises two sets of large coral reefs that formed offshore on a submarine ridge due to a combination of favorable tidal currents and coral growth in the area.

Overview

One of only six double barrier reefs in the world, Danajon Bank runs for 156 kilometers 7 milesin the

Central Visayas Central Visayas (; or ) is an Regions of the Philippines, administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VII. With only two Provinces of the Philippines, provinces: Cebu and Bohol, as well as three Cities of the Phi ...

, between the following islands:

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol (; ), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas Regions of the Philippines, region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. It is home to Bohola ...

Cebu Cebu ( ; ), officially the Province of Cebu (; ), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 surrounding islands and islets. The coastal zone of Cebu is identified as a ...

, and

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

. There are onl
3 major passages
through this double reef — the NorthWest Pass, the Middle Pass, & the NorthEast Pass. The Danajon Bank's overall area is 272 square kilometers 05 square miles with an aggregate coastline of 699 kilometers 34 miles which includes 40 islands. The Danajon Bank makes up over 1% of the total coral reef area of the

, which is estimated at 27,000 square kilometers 0,424 square miles Philippine-reef-block hg

Conservation efforts

Due to overfishing, the Danajon Bank has a declining population of fish, and many upper-level predators have ceased to hunt along the reef. To counteract this, 34

Marine Protected Area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

s have been established. From 2003 to 2010

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 19 ...

funded th
FISH Project
a conservation project aimed at managing fisheries in the Philippines, including those on the Danajon Bank. Dynamite fishing is the preferred method of fishing there, and the fish catch has considerably dwindled due to the absence of the fish and the destruction of the various

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

habitats.

Species

Species such as flathead fish, anemonefish,

parrotfish Parrotfish (named for their mouths, which resemble a parrot's beak) are a clade of fish placed in the tribe Scarini of the wrasse family (Labridae). Traditionally treated as their own family (Scaridae), genetic studies have found them to be dee ...

angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

, wrasses, blue-edged sole, and messmate pipefish are present in the ecosystem of the Danajon Bank. Large sea fans and

sponge Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and a ...

s live in the areas with deeper water, as does branch coral. The reef is also home to three endangered coral species such as the mushroom coral, , and elegance coral.

Seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine Osteichthyes, bony fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meanin ...

s live in the reef, and have become a popular attraction for

environmentalists Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecologi ...

seeking to observe the animal in its

natural habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

. It is home to a vast array of commercially valuable reef fishes,

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of Arthropod, arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquat ...

, and

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

such as

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class (biology), class Holothuroidea ( ). They are benthic marine animals found on the sea floor worldwide, and the number of known holothuroid species worldwide is about 1,786, with the greatest number be ...

s and

sea urchin Sea urchins or urchins () are echinoderms in the class (biology), class Echinoidea. About 950 species live on the seabed, inhabiting all oceans and depth zones from the intertidal zone to deep seas of . They typically have a globular body cove ...

s. Its extensive

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

beds are nursery and feeding grounds for various species of

rabbitfish Rabbitfishes or spinefoots, genus ''Siganus'', are perciform fishes in the family (biology), family Siganidae. It is the only Extant taxon, extant genus in its family and has 29 species. In some now obsolete classifications, the species having ...

(''siganid''s) and sea horses, while its

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s are spawning habitats for

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, shrimps, and various

fishes A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fins and a hard skull, but lacking limbs with digits. Fish can be grouped into the more basal jawless fish and the more common jawed ...

. Almost all sea grasses that occur in the

Republic of the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which ar ...

are well represented in this double barrier reef.

Islands

Small

islands This is a list of the lists of islands in the world grouped by country, by continent, by body of water, and by other classifications. For rank-order lists, see the #Other lists of islands, other lists of islands below. Lists of islands by count ...

are situated in the Danajon Bank. Since the area is rich is marine resources, these islands are mostly populated with fisherfolks. Some of these islands are the most densely populated islands in the world.

Management Council

A memorandum of agreement was signed on September 7, 2022, for the creation of the Bohol Danajon Bank Double Barrier Reef Management Council (BDBDBRMC). This agreement was participated by the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR; ) is the Executive Departments of the Philippines, executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the cou ...

, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the provincial government of Bohol and the municipal government units of Bien Unido, Buenavista, Clarin, Getafe, Inabanga, Pres. Carlos P. Garcia, Talibon,

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

, Tubigon and Ubay. The formation of the management council aims to implement proper management, protection and conservation of the Danajon Bank barrier reef that has been the breeding ground of various marine creatures, ensure food security and livelihood for communities that depend on its fishing grounds and develop the area for ecotourism. The local governments of Cebu,

and

Southern Leyte Southern Leyte (; Kabalian: ''Habagatan nga Leyte''; ; ), officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Maasin. Southern Leyte comprised the ...

that are in the vicinity of the Danajon Bank are invited to join the management council.

References

External links

* Additional Information about th
Danajon Double Barrier Reef.

* ttp://oneocean.org/download/db_files/201001DanajonBankMiniProfile.pdf Danajon Bank — A Double Barrier Reef — a Unique Resource in Peril(facts & figures)
Internal Structure and Origin of the Double Reefs of North Bohol & the Olango Reef Flat (Philippines)

Danajon Bank Double Barrier Reef Rehabilitation, Protection and Management for Growth Quadrangle
* *
Hydrodynamic and dispersal modeling in FISH Project focal areas
* * * {{cite book , title=Coastal Environmental and Fisheries Profile of Danajon Bank, Bohol, Philippines , author1=Patrick Christie , author2=Nygiel B. Armada , author3=Alan T. White , author4=Aniceta M. Gulayan , author5=Homer Hermes Y. de Dios , year=2006 , publisher=Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvest (FISH) Project , url=https://oneocean.org/download/db_files/danajon_bank_profile.pdf Reefs of the Philippines Landforms of Bohol Landforms of Leyte (province) Landforms of Cebu