The threats to Philippine coral reefs are similar to most developing countries’ with high population growth rates and with coastal communities contributing a significant portion of the national population. This continued burgeoning of the country’s population is increasing its negative impact on the health of coral reefs as shown by trends in Reef Check indicators. Reef Check (http://www.reefcheck.org/) is the world’s largest coral reef NGO. It operates in 80 countries and started as a volunteer program basically functioning as a ‘citizen science’. This is the training of people to check the health of their own reefs. This gives people a sense of stewardship to their resources. Reef Check surveys specific ecological and human-impact indicators that are very easy for many people to identify. Reef Check has trained students, scuba divers, villagers, government agencies, other NGOs and even the military to survey the health of coral reefs. The data have been useful in determining the status of reefs and their problems and in monitoring the impact of initiatives that are supposed to address them.

The high-valued indicators have very low densities based on long-term Reef Check data and they seem to have not recovered yet. The density of Napoleon wrasse, a fish species listed under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, has been consistently low and almost always zero in most coral reefs. The fate of the barramundi cod is similar. The groupers are in a slightly better state but they are still low in densities. This group of fishes is highly targeted especially in the live reef fish food trade to account for their low densities. Although these fishes are naturally low in abundance in the wild overfishing has pushed their densities much lower. Similarly, it is now very hard to find bumphead parrotfish in fished coral reefs. Sweetlips, snappers and moral eels are all very low in abundance. Reef Check data have indicated that these fishes are more abundant in protected reef areas.

The trends in the highly-targeted invertebrate indicators are not better. Sea cucumbers, lobsters, triton shell, and pencil urchins are very low in abundance. The triton shell and the pencil urchins are in fact very hard to find now in fished reefs. These organisms have been highly targeted by fishermen for the curio trade. Giant clams and banded shrimps are still found in many reefs but the impact of overfishing for the curio and the ornamental trade will continue to drive their abundance much lower.

Natural disturbances constitute a significant factor that negatively impacts the health of coral reefs. Typhoons are a normal occurrence in the Philippines. However, El Nino events (that seem to be more frequent) that have lead to the warming of the coastal waters and subsequent coral bleaching have led to widespread and increased mortalities. This is a serious problem since coral reefs provide shelter to many organisms that is a source livelihood to many fishermen. Coral reefs are also attractions to a tourism industry that has recently picked up in the Philippines. The El Nino event in 1998 was the most serious natural disturbance in Philippine reefs based on Reef Check data. The data indicate at least 20% coral mortality in the Philippines. There has been no obvious recovery yet in general. However, recovery has been recorded in protected reefs (no-take marine protected areas) such as the Apo and Danjugan Islands. These results indicate human impact exacerbates natural disturbances and that protection may ameliorate these negative impacts