Rope nurseries, Bolinao Reef (D dela Cruz)

Through the hosting of research activities and the promotion of the participation of local scientists and graduate students in various activities, the Centre of Excellence is playing a major role in the development and delivery of research outputs and capacity building activities to the Program’s stakeholders.

In providing support to the CRTR Program to meet the research and capacity building needs, our objectives are to:

• Provide technical support for the research activities of the various Working Groups of the CRTR Program, initially with the Remediation and Restoration Working Group and the Remote Sensing Working Group.

• Upgrade the reference coral collections in local museums, starting with those of the University of the Philippines, and to develop local expertise for the identification of Indo-Pacific species. Taxonomic guides and coral collections will be made available to all CRTR Working Groups and local individuals that require the identification of specimens.

• Undertake other research related to coral disease and to connectivity, with a view to expanding the activities of the CRTR Working Groups for these disciplines, while focusing on local issues.

• Increase the capacity of the Centre of Excellence, in particular to conduct coral reef research and training, in order to extend information and skills to local and regional stakeholders, managers and researchers. The ultimate objective is to contribute to the conservation of coral reefs, which are of vital importance to the rural poor in coastal areas.

Through this, our local research priorities for the Southeast Asian Centre of Excellence are:

• Coral identification and taxonomy

• Coral disease and marine microbiology

• Connectivity and populations of economically important reef species

• Submarine groundwater discharge

• Benthic field methods to detect change and key processes structuring the coral communities

• Local Government Initiative, Lingayen Gulf