By Dr Simon Pierce, MMF
The Philippines is known for its fantastic diving, but the jewel in the crown is Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park – also known as ‘Shark Heaven’ by the team at Marine Megafauna Foundation (MMF).
Tubbataha – which means a long reef exposed at low tide in the indigenous Samal people’s language – is the largest marine protected area in the country, encompassing 1000 square kilometres of offshore coral atolls and surrounding waters. The reefs have been protected since 1988, and the area was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.
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Considering how amazing it is – the coral is spectacular, with sea fans the size of cars, there are turtles everywhere, and it’s extremely sharky – Tubbataha isn’t a particularly well-known dive destination. The reef system is only accessible for liveaboard vessels for a few weeks each year, when the winds die down and the seas calm, so not many people have had a chance to experience the area yet.
The drawcard for us here at MMF, unsurprisingly, is the sharks!
At least 23 species of sharks and rays frequent the park. Tubbataha is one of the only places where whale sharks are routinely seen by divers, and reef mantas are also present, with some reliable cleaning stations. There’s a chance of seeing tiger sharks, threshers, hammerhead schools, and gorgeous eagle rays, but the reef sharks – whitetips and grey reefs – dominate through sheer force of numbers.
While there’s been a lot of excellent science done at Tubbataha, there had been no dedicated shark surveys prior to 2015. That year, the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines (LAMAVE), the Tubbataha Management Office, the on-site ranger team – and I – started using diving surveys and underwater video to assess shark abundance.
The reef shark densities are some of the highest recorded worldwide, more than three times those seen in no-take areas of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
These fantastic results are a tribute to good management. The foresight to protect the area in the 1980s has allowed multiple generations of reef sharks – which reach adulthood at around 10 years – to live and reproduce without fishing pressure. These gains compound over time. It’s shark heaven.
Lots of other big predators are present too, from dogtooth tuna to massive schools of jacks.
In March 2023, I’ll be heading back to Tubbataha with MMF co-founder Dr Andrea Marshall, to co-host an exclusive dive liveaboard aboard the luxurious Atlantis. We’ll be focusing our attention on the best sites for whale shark and manta ray encounters, and the incredible reef shark sites.
We’ve still got a few spots remaining – I hope you can join us!
Dr Simon Pierce is co-founder of Marine Megafauna Foundation. For more information about the MMF liveaboard opportunity, visit the MMF trips page. For more about MMF and their work around the globe, visit the website at www.marinemegafauna.org or follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
