The Tañon Strait ( fil, Kipot ng Tañon) is a body of water, separating the islands of

Negros Negros is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . Negros is one of the many islands of the Visayas, in the central part of the country. The predominant inhabitants of the island region a ...

and

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 167 ...

in the

Visayas The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Bisayan languages, Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three Island groups of the Philippines, principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. The strait, which is about long, connects the

Visayan Sea The Visayan Sea is a sea in the Philippines surrounded by the islands of the Visayas. It is bounded by the islands Masbate to the north, Panay to the west, Leyte to the east, and Cebu and Negros to the south. The sea is connected to several b ...

in the north to the

Bohol Sea The Bohol Sea, also called the Mindanao Sea, is a sea located between the Visayas and Mindanao islands in the Philippines. It lies south of Bohol and Leyte and north of Mindanao. Siquijor and Camiguin are its two major islands. The major citi ...

in the south. Its width varies from , with the narrowest point in the south. In the north the strait is closed off by the Don Islands, the largest of which is Bantayan. The cities of

San Carlos, Negros Occidental San Carlos, officially the City of San Carlos ( ceb, Dakbayan sa San Carlos; hil, Dakbanwa/Syudad sang San Carlos; fil, Lungsod ng San Carlos), is a 2nd class component city in the province of Negros Occidental, Philippines. According to the ...

, Bais, Negros Oriental and

Toledo, Cebu Toledo, officially the City of Toledo ( ceb, Dakbayan sa Toledo; fil, Lungsod ng Toledo), is a 3rd class component city in the province of Cebu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 207,314 people. Toledo City is ...

have deepwater port facilities. The Tañon Strait is known for whale and dolphin watching, with tour boats operating from Bais City.

Protected area

The Tañon Strait Protected Seascape ( IUCN Management Category V) was established by

President Ramos Fidel Valdez Ramos (, ; March 18, 1928 – July 31, 2022), popularly known as FVR and Eddie Ramos, was a Filipino general and politician who served as the 12th president of the Philippines from 1992 to 1998. He was the only career military ...

under ''Proclamation No. 1234'' of 1998. With an area of more than , it is the largest marine protected area in the Philippines.

Controversy

On February 7, 2008, the

Supreme Court of the Philippines The Supreme Court ( fil, Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the ''Korte Suprema'' lso used in formal writing is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on Ju ...

ordered the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( fil, Kagawaran ng Kapaligiran at Likas na Yaman, DENR or KKLY) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for governing and supervising the exploration, developmen ...

and the Department of Energy to comment on a

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

petition filed for

baleen Baleen is a filter-feeding system inside the mouths of baleen whales. To use baleen, the whale first opens its mouth underwater to take in water. The whale then pushes the water out, and animals such as krill are filtered by the baleen and ...

and toothed

whales Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

s, porpoises including the

Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin (''Orcaella brevirostris'') is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the ...

s, and other

cetacean Cetacea (; , ) is an infraorder of aquatic mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Key characteristics are their fully aquatic lifestyle, streamlined body shape, often large size and exclusively carnivorous diet. They propel them ...

species in the Tañon Strait to stop oil exploration by Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. Ltd. (

JAPEX is a hydrocarbon exploration, production, and transportation company. JAPEX explores and produces crude oil, natural gas, and liquefied natural gas reserves worldwide. JAPEX has proven reserves of 272 million barrels in Japan and the rest of th ...

) in the protected waterway. The strait serves as a marine wildlife reserve that provides grounds for breeding, feeding and resting to 11 species of marine mammals. The court was asked to recognize the petitioners as "Filipino mammals" with constitutional rights. JAPEX subsequently abandoned oil exploration in the area, saying that initial drilling had shown lack of commercial opportunity. However the Supreme Court case continued.

Mythology

In Cebuano mythology, one of the three winged giant messengers of the Cebuano supreme god Kaptan was punished for stealing a unique sacred shell which can turn anybody into anything they please. The messenger, Sinogo, was a handsome man and the "favorite of Kaptan". Upon hearing of Sinogo's treachery, Kaptan ordered the others to pursue Sinogo. Sinogo fled west and eventually used the shell's power to turn himself into a giant crocodile (a sacred animal in old beliefs) so he could go deep in the straight "between two islands", modern-day Cebu and Negros. Kaptan, disappointed and angry, struck Sinogo with lightning, shocking the messenger giant and imprisoning him for all of eternity in modern-day Tanon Straight. Due to Kaptan's love for Sinogo, Kaptan decided to retain the sacred crocodile form of Sinogo despite his treachery. The stolen shell was dropped at sea when Sinogo was struck with lightning, but a sea creature managed to relocate it and bring it back to Kaptan. Ever since, if a whirlpool appears in the straight, people believe that Sinogo is trying to break from his eternal prison deep in the straight.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanon Strait Straits of the Philippines Protected seascapes of the Philippines Landforms of Cebu Landforms of Negros Oriental Landforms of Negros Occidental