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April 24, 2013 by stevedeneef

Southern Leyte, a perfect example of eco-tourism

The word eco-tourism seems to be misused a lot of the time. The definition of eco-tourism is defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” Ecotourism is about uniting conservation, communities, and sustainable travel. It’s not easy to find all these elements all together. In Sonok, a little sleepy town in Southern Leyte, Philippines, the people do seem to get it right though. 

Pintuyan coastline

The bay around Sonok, Pintuyan and San Ricardo is a hotspot for whale sharks

Whale shark hunter

There’s even some history of whale shark hunting in Sonok, although the locals turned to different fishing methods and tourism long time ago

Sonok and the surrounding area a hotspot for whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), the biggest fish in the world. This charismatic animal is loved by divers and snorkelers all over the world and people travel great distances to get a close encounter with this spotted fish. Whereas in some places money can become the main drive, in Leyte the people care a great deal about the animal and environment and limit tourists to 6 people per whale shark. When a tourist boat comes in, KASAKA (the whale shark tourism organisation ran by the community) sends a few spotters in paddle boats and a guide along with the tourists. The guide gives a briefing and accompanies the tourists on the main boat while the spotters are being towed until the main whale shark area is reached. Once there the spotters do their magic and start paddling around sticking their heads underwater until they find a whale shark. Then it’s time for the tourists to get in the water and enjoy what they came here for. The main boat with propeller is never close to the whale sharks, only the paddle boats who can do no harm to the sharks. With only few people in the water and no diving or flash photography allowed the impact on the whale sharks is very limited.

Whale shark spotters

A small motorboat with spotters on paddle boats in tow

Since 2013 the Large Marine Vertebrate project has a base here, they also join the tourist boats where everyone can ask questions about these beautiful animals. For eco-tourism to really work the tourists should leave with both a great experience and more knowledge about the animal they encountered. Apart from this the project does continues research in this region and has photo ID’d a lot of sharks resulting in the first match ever in the Philippines with a shark from a different region. This gives us a lot of information about their migratory route.

Southern Leyte, Sonok 35

A researcher from the Large Marine Vertebrate Project photo ID-ing a whale shark

So if you want to experience an amazing whale shark encounter without too many people around then Leyte might just be the place for you.

Whale shark and tourist in Southern Leyte, Philippines

A tourist enjoying a whale shark encounter, crowds are not really a factor in Leyte

For more images of Souther Leyte check out this gallery: Whale shark of Southern Leyte

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March 31, 2013 by stevedeneef

A bit of history at Pamilacan Island

A fisherman at Pamilacan Island now working in the tourism industry doing snorkeling tours

I just returned from a quick filming trip to Pamilacan Island for an upcoming documentary. Every year we do one or more cetacean surveys there with the Large Marine Vertebrate Project as it’s one of the hotspots in the Bohol Sea to spot dolphins, whales and even whale sharks. Pamilacan has a long history of hunting cetaceans and whale sharks that is still very visible today. Since 1998 all of this kind of hunting has been banned and now part of the island mainly survives of tourism, the fishermen show visitors their beautiful coral gardens and take them on dolphin watching tours around the island, a great alternative to hunting. While fishing is still a big part of the island, tourism is slowly gaining more popularity and can be a solution for unsustainable fishing practices that are unfortunately still prevalent today.

whale shark hunter

An ex-whale shark hunter from Pamilacan showing the tools of the trade, a ‘Pilak’ was used to hunt the biggest fish in the world. Nowadays this fisherman lives of tourism.

Dead Dolphin at Pamilacan Island

The history of hunting dolphins/whales is easy to see around Pamilacan. Here’s a skeleton of a dolphin in one of the museums at a small fishing village.

Kids of Pamilacan Island

Pamilacan is a very friendly island. Kids gather around the camera to show of their finds on the beach.

Fishing village of Pamilacan Island

Fishing is still a means of living in Pamilacan, here an octopus dries in the sun.

Coral garden, Pamilacan

The coral gardens of Pamilacan Island are healthy, tourists now come to enjoy the shallow corals while snorkeling.

Risso's dolphins

Two Risso’s Dolphins near Pamilacan Island, dolphin watching tours are a great income for the fishermen of Pamilacan.

Sea snake at snake island

Sea snakes are plentiful at the aptly named snake island.

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February 6, 2013 by stevedeneef

Lumago Designs. Fair trade and upcycled

I’ve been lucky to work alongside Lumago designs for a while now. This new fair trade company makes beautiful jewelry out of recycled and upcycled materials so no need to feel guilty when you buy it :) Apart from that it is made and designed by the women living around the dumpsite in Dumaguete, Philippines. It’s truly a sustainable livelihood project that both the Lumago ladies and the founder can be proud of. Click here to go the image gallery.
For more information visit their website www.lumagodesigns.com.

Lumago Designs. Upcycled and Fairtrade. from Steve De Neef on Vimeo.

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December 31, 2012 by stevedeneef

Favorite images of 2012

This past year has been amazing for me, I’ve seen so many cool things and worked on a lot of conservation and research projects. Together with the LAMAVE (Large Marine Vertebrate Project) we travelled a lot to some of the most beautiful places in the Philippines. I’ve mainly been filming this year but still had plenty of photo opportunities  Here’s some of my most memorable images of the past year, not always because I think these are the best images, but more because these where such memorable moments.

Releasing a hawksbill turtle

Releasing a hawksbill turtle

This is my favorite image of the whole year. To me it represents all the work we did with sea turtles. Here a Hawksbill turtle is being released after being kept in captivity in a zoo under terrible conditions. We managed to talk to and educate the people holding the turtle that it was anything but sustainable and legal to keep turtles like this.

Whale shark research in Southern Leyte, Philippines

Whale shark research in Southern Leyte, Philippines

This year the majority of my time was spend with whale sharks documenting the LAMAVE project’s research. Here Dr Ponzo and biologist Dominique are photo ID’ing and taking a biopsy sample of this whale shark (Rhincodon typus) in Southern Leyte. Later one in the year we found a photo ID match between a shark in Leyte and Oslob, this means the whale shark migrated between the two areas. This was a first for the Philippines.

Whale shark, Rhincodon typus

Whale shark, Rhincodon typus. Two sharks right underneath the surface

With so many amazing whale shark encounters last year it’s hard to pick a favorite picture. This one though tops the list, I love showing over-under images and having two whale sharks in the frame and a beautiful backdrop was amazing to shoot.

Water monitor lizard

Unsuspected encounter with a water monitor lizard

The fun thing about travelling and doing research is that you get to see a lot of unusual stuff, this water monitor lizard we encountered during out time in Leyte certainly makes the list of strange things I’ve seen underwater.

research at night

Whale shark research at night in Southern Leyte

Research and documenting takes a lot of time, in Leyte we had regular 16 hour days and kept looking for sharks right trough the night, even with a storm approaching.
It’s all worth it though :)

LUMAGO livelihood program

LUMAGO livelihood program

I also shot a lot of non marine related projects. This was one of them, lumago designs is a company that creates recycled and upcycled jewelry. The ladies making the jewelry all live near the Dumaguete dumpsite and some still work there. I was amazed at the quality and beauty of the products they produce and how proud they are of their designs.
Check it out at www.lumagodesigns.com 

Reefs after typhoon Pablo

Reefs after typhoon Pablo

I’ve also seen a lot of devastation to nature this past year. This is the result after typhoon Pablo and Sendong hit this reef two years in a row. The Dauin sanctuary used to be beautiful, now not much is left. What does inspire me about this picture is that there are many people willing to help and do anything they can to help protect and rehabilitate nature after events like Pablo. From reducing their carbon footprint to starting a reef regenarating program, it’s truly inspiring to see some peoples commitment to our environment.

whale shark, Rhincodon typus

Whale shark

It would be wrong not to end this post with a whale shark image, so here’s this elegant fish in all it’s glory.

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December 31, 2012 by stevedeneef

Typhoon damage on reefs in the Philippines

Last year tropical storm Sendong swiped through the Philippines and did a lot of damage, the damage wasn’t just on land, corals reefs suffered a lot as well. This year when typhoon Pablo (Bopha) hit the country the devastation was big again. More casualties and houses lost, and again more reefs damaged beyond recovery. With climate change happening at a fast pace one wonders if storms of this magnitude will happen every year, if so the loss of coral reefs will be significant. While we can prepare on land for storms like this there isn’t much wen can do underwater. Reef regenerating programs like in the Maldives have proven successful, artificial reefs can be great as well when done properly. Hopefully soon we can start helping the recovery of some reefs. There’s been a lot of interest in Dauin, Philippines to start initiatives in helping the reefs, from clean ups to reef regenerating programs. Hopefully more info on this coming soon.

Click image to see the whole gallery

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December 22, 2012 by stevedeneef

M/Y Esperanza changes plans

M/Y Esperanza (Greenpeace)

M/Y Esperanza (Greenpeace), the ship brought relief goods to typhoon Pablo (Bopha) victims in Davao, Philippines.

This December I had to chance to work with the nice bunch of people at Greenpeace. Their biggest ship, the M/Y Esperanza was in the Philippines and was suppose to go on a tour for the Oceans Campaign. When typhoon Pablo (Bopha) hit the Philippines early December plans changed. The Davao region was hit especially hard, thousands of people lost their homes and hundreds lost their lives. With a big shortage of water and food in the region Greenpeace decided to postpone the Oceans Campaign tour and use to ship to deliver  50+ tons of relief goods to the hardest hit area. With only days to prepare it wasn’t easy but with the help of the Esperanza crew, Greenpeace Philippines and the Davao Police and army everything went smooth and all the goods were delivered to a redistribution center in Davao. From their on the relief goods were brought over to multiple areas in Compostela valley and Davao Oriental. Even though I was looking forward working on the Ocean’s Campaign, I think it was a great decision to help out in Davao. Job well done Greenpeace!

Click the image above to see the photo gallery.

For more info you can visit the Greenpeace Philippines website.

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November 28, 2012 by stevedeneef

Monad Shoal and the Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project

For years I’ve been wanting to visit Malapscua Island in the Philippines and dive the famous seamount Monad Shoal. This seamount is only a 30 minute boatride away from Malapascua, the main attraction of Monad Shoal are the pelagic thresher sharks (Alopias pelagicus) that frequent this place on a daily basis. These graceful elasmobranchs come here almost every morning to get cleaned on the numerous cleaning stations, a real sight to behold. It’s the best place in the world to see the elusive pelagic thresher sharks who normally live quite deep so it’s not easy for divers to encounter them.
Last August I finally made my way over there to document the research being done on pelagic thresher sharks, it was a memorable trip and I will definitely be going back there.

The Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project is based on Malapascua and studies the sharks and their relationship with Monad Shoal, the also study the impact that tourism and the fishing industry has on this unique place. The project accepts volunteers nearly year round so if you’re an aspiring shark/marine biologist then don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity.
While tourism contributes a lot to the protection of Monad Shoal it also comes with it’s problems, unfortunately bad diver practices have destroyed some cleaning stations which can have an impact on the reason why the sharks come here in the first place. A lot of people are involved in Malapascua to protect Monad, Anna Oposa from Save The Philippines Seas is trying to establish a shark sanctuary there and with the Thresher Shark Project based on the island and educating the young ones and dive shops about the importance of this place, the future looks bright and hopefully Monad Shoal and Malapascua can serve as an example for sustainable eco tourism.

Asian Diver published an article I wrote about Monad Shoal in their November issue (issue 6, 2012). You can find it online on Zinio or in many newsstands around Asia.

Click the image below to see a gallery of the Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project

Here’s a short video about the project.

The Thresher Shark Research and Conservation Project from Steve De Neef on Vimeo.

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October 31, 2012 by stevedeneef

Olive ridley hatchlings released before head starting

Turtle hatchlings being released to where they belong

On october 30th 2012, 92 olive ridley hatchlings were released back to the wild in Dauin, Philippines after they were collected two days prior to be head started. Many people still believe that head starting turtles (keeping them until they are bigger and ‘stronger’) is a good way of giving these marine reptiles a better chance of survival. In reality the hatchlings have far more energy when they are born since they have been feeding on the nutritious yoke inside the egg. They need this energy to make it out into the ocean were they will spend their first years drifting along in patches of algae or other debri were they find protection and food. The other important reason why turtles shouldn’t be kept after hatching is that the first steps towards the sea are critical for them to remember their natal beach. Female adult turtles will only come back to this beach to lay eggs so if we want to preserve future generations we can not take away this step.
Thanks go out to everyone who helped to facilitate the quick release of these turtles. I’m glad to see that the people of Dauin want to protect and learn more about turtles and what they can do to contribute to conserving this amazing animal.

Click here to go to the gallery

Here’s a short video of the event

Olive ridley hatchling release from Steve De Neef on Vimeo.