Palawan Adventures & Recreational Activities
Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park
Tubbataha Reef was designated by UNESCO as World Heritage Site,one of three in the Philippines (the other being the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park and Banaue Rice Terraces". It is an atoll coral reef located in the Sulu Sea of the Philippines. It is a marine sanctuary protected as Tubbataha Reef National Marine Park. It is nominated at the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
The two atolls are named the North and South Reefs or Islets. The former is a large, oblong-shaped continous reef platform about 4-5 km wide and compeletely encloses a sandy lagoon. The reef is shallow and emergent in some places at extreme low tide. The South Reef likewise is a small triangular-sahped reef about 1-2 km wide . Like the North Reef it consists of a shallow platform enclosing a sandy lagoon. On the souther tip of this reef is a 2-3 ha. Coral line-sand island, the South Islet where the lighthouse stands. This islet is a rookery site for birds and turtles.
Tubbataha Reef is home to nearly 400 species of fish and bird species, enough reason to declare Tubbataha as a National Marine Park through Proclamation No. 306 on August 11, 1998 this makes commercial fishing or the collecting of corals illegal within 33,2000 hectares of its reefs and surrounding areas.
A marine sanctuary having a reef of enormous size is the Tubbataha National Marine Park located at the Central Sulu Sea. It was established in August 11, 1988 with an area of 332 km² (82,000 acres). In 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, through an Executive Order, increased the boundaries of the park by 200%. It is now 968.24 km² (239,000 acres) in size and is guarded by armed rangers 24 hours/ 7 days a week.
Palawan is composed of the long and narrow Palawan Island, plus a number of other smaller islands surrounding the main island. The Calamianes Group of Islands, to the northwest consists of Busuanga Island, Culion Island, and Coron Island. Durangan Island almost touches the westernmost part of Palawan Island, while Balabac Island is located off the southern tip, separated from Borneo by the Balabac Strait. In addition, Palawan covers the Cuyo Islands in the Sulu Sea. The disputed Spratly Islands, located a few hundred kilometers to the west is considered part of Palawan by the Philippines, and is locally called the Kalayaan Group of Islands.
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