Talk about center of the center of the center of marine biodiversity

---

[youtube=a6fui3rMpkQ]

Everytime I'd go out of my door now that faces west, and where every morning I'd say hello to the sun sea and sky, I'd look at it now with a totally different view. The new knowledge I've come across last weekend, that as far as I my eye could see, am really looking at the blue waters of the center of the center of the center of the world's marine biodiversity, did it.

I've lived in Amoingon Beach in Boac, Marinduque for the last 18 years, where to the left facing the sea I see on a clear day the islands of Romblon, right across in the far distance is the big island of Mindoro, and to the right is Batangas and Quezon where the mystical Mt. Banahaw dominates the view. I know that not many people have the privilege of looking at the ever changing colors of the horizon especially during sunset, the way rainbow colors play with the shades of the sea, and the quiet mountains of Mindoro, Batangas and Quezon. Rainbows dip their bows here now and then, which is why my place is called Bahaghari (Rainbow).

Now what did I find?

That the center of the highest concentration of marine biodiversity in the world is an area of 900,000 square kilometers, the heart of the coral triangle in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, accounting for 50 percent of the world’s coral species. This is known as the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape.

In 2004 American marine biologist Dr. Kent Carpenter of the World Conservation Union and fellow researcher Dr. Victor Springer of the Smithsonian Institution discovered that the center of the center of marine shore fish biodiversity in the world was the Philippines and not Indonesia.

Amost 3,000 maps showing the distribution of marine species from all over the world were analyzed, and it was found that the highest percentage (2.5) of biological diversity was found in the Philippines. The central Philippine archipelago which includes the Tubattaha Reef was thus identified as the center of the center of marine biodiversity.

Within this center of marine biodiversity, the largest concentration of marine life in the world with a recorded 1,736 overlapping marine species in a 10 by 10 kilometer marine habitat was identified within the Verde Island Passage between Batangas and Mindoro. The entire Verde Island Passage Marine Corridor, a busy sea lane, covers portions of the coastal waters of Batangas, Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque and Romblon.

On the westside of Marinduque right at the midpoint lies my Bahaghari beach house.

---

Photos

Sayao Bay
View in Northern Marinduque

maniwaya isalnd
low tide in a part of maniwaya

maniwaya island in marinduque
island in Marinduque with white sand beach south of Luzon

maniwaya beach
nipa sheds in a small maniwaya island resort

Comments

[Medz Cajanding]

Wonderful Video
Thank you for sharing. We are cooperators in preserving our marine biodiversity. We actually have a Vice-President for Tourism and the Environment. Batangas Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.

[elli]

Verde Island Passage Biodiversity
Thanks, very interesting. I would appreciate news releases that I could post on my blog to help spread awareness on this natural treasure. [e-mail]