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. ...

in the

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 ...

, which is a very rare geological formation, which is located in the Camotes Sea. 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 ( ceb, Tunga-tungang Kabisay-an; tl, Gitnang Kabisayaan) is an administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VII. It consists of four provinces: (Cebu, Bohol, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor) and thr ...

, between the following islands:

Bohol Bohol (), officially the Province of Bohol ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bohol; tl, Lalawigan ng Bohol), is an island province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, consisting of the island itself and 75 minor surrounding islands. ...

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 16 ...

, 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 be ...

. 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

Republic of the 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 ...

, which is estimated at about 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 Marine protected areas (MPA) are protected areas of 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 for a con ...

s have been established. From 2003 to 2010

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

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 Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

habitats.

Species

Species such as flathead fish,

anemonefish Clownfish or anemonefish are fishes from the subfamily Amphiprioninae in the family Pomacentridae. Thirty species of clownfish are recognized: one in the genus ''Premnas'', while the remaining are in the genus ''Amphiprion''. In the wild, the ...

, parrotfish,

angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...

wrasses The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, most of them ...

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

sea fans Alcyonacea, or soft corals, are an order of corals. In addition to the fleshy soft corals, the order Alcyonacea now contains all species previously known as "gorgonian corals", that produce a more or less hard skeleton, though quite different ...

and

sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate throu ...

s live in the areas with deeper water, as does

branch coral The branch coral (''Acropora florida'') is a species of acroporid coral found in the southwest and northern Indian Ocean, the central Indo-Pacific, Australia, Southeast Asia, Japan and the East China Sea, Cook Islands and the oceanic west Pacif ...

. The reef is also home to three endangered coral species such as the mushroom coral
bubble coral
and elegance coral.

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

s live in the reef, and have become a popular attraction for environmentalists seeking to observe the animal in its natural habitat. It is home to a vast array of commercially valuable reef fishes,

shellfish Shellfish is a colloquial and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environ ...

crustaceans Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean g ...

, and

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...

such as

sea cucumber Sea cucumbers are echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea (). They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide. The number of holothuri ...

s and

sea urchin Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) o ...

s. Its extensive

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

beds are nursery and feeding grounds for various species of rabbitfish (''siganid''s) and sea horses, while its

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

s are spawning habitats for

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapoda, decapods, ostracoda, seed shrimp, branchiopoda, branchiopods, argulidae, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopoda, isopods, barnacles, copepods, ...

shrimps Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are referre ...

, and various fishes. Almost all sea grasses that occur in the

are well represented in this double barrier reef.

Islands

Small islands 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

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources The Philippines' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ( fil, Kawanihan ng Pangisdaan at Yamang-tubig, abbreviated as BFAR), is an agency of the Philippine government under the Department of Agriculture responsible for the development, impro ...

, 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 and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, 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 ( ceb, Habagatang Leyte; Kabalian: ''Habagatan nga Leyte''; war, Salatan nga Leyte; tl, Timog Leyte), officially the Province of Southern Leyte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capit ...

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

References

{{Reflist

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
Reefs of the Philippines Landforms of Bohol Landforms of Leyte (province) Landforms of Cebu