LUNGSODAAN, Padre Burgos, Southern Leyte – As soon as the marine life preservationists regained their composure after Typhoon Odette (international name Typhoon Rai), damaged the beautiful coral reefs of Sogod Bay area, they embarked on a mission to rehabilitate the coral reefs.
On June 2024, Alan Binnebose, an American diving enthusiast who has established residency in Padre Burgos town, planted corals on 10 coral beds at the Peter’s Dive Resort Reef, located off the coast of Lungsodaan village in the same town along Sogod Bay. The average depth underwater is 9 meters. There were 125 corals planted. The process involves transplanting the coral onto an artificial substrate.
After an assessment was conducted on October 2024, it was found out that about 117 corals survived, resulting to 94% survival rate and 6% mortality rate, according to a team’s report from Peter’s Dive Resort.
It was observed that Binnebose has been going around different barangays to teach locals how to re-grow corals using seedlings from a healthy reef. He showed how to develop a coral bed using full-length cyclone wire with plastic softdrink bottles filled with stones attached to the cyclone wire serving as seed pots.
On October 17, 2024, the Coral Restoration Project in Southern Leyte was launched . It involves the partnership between the local government units, Southern Leyte State University, resort dive operators, and the fisherfolk in the area. This new project replicates Alan Binnebose’s experimental project study. It will involve putting up of 15 coral beds that will be lodged at seven to nine meters deep underwater near the shoreline of Lungsodaan, Padre Burgos.
The town of Padre Burgos is at the mouth of Sogod Bay, and is a strategic jump-off point to marine life-rich Panaon Island and the historic Limasawa Island. Local and international divers flock to this place for Sogod Bay’s natural underwater beauty. (GMReyes, DYbañez, Source: Peter’s Dive Resort)
