Coral in the Philippines

Hi family and friends!!!!!!!! Do you remember the special report I wrote from Patagonia about Andiperla Wilinki and glowing glaciers? I am going to do another one about coral in the Philippines. I am going to talk about 1. why coral is dying 2. artificial reefs and 3. different kinds of coral we have seen in the Philippines.

Why is coral dying? ☠☠️

Did you know the Philippines are part in something called the Coral Triangle? It is an area with more species of fish and coral than anywhere else on earth! There are over 10,000 square miles of coral reefs here. We've seen a lot of coral and some has been alive and really pretty but a lot have been white and dead.

What is sad is that in the past 20 years a 1/3 of the coral in the Philippines have died. Around the world 3/4 of the coral is in danger of dying forever! They are dying because the oceans are getting warmer. When the ocean is hotter than 32 degrees Celcius the coral dies. Another reason they are dying is because the Philippines has a lot of pollution in the ocean from plastic and other things. The pollution block out the sunlight that the coral needs. Sometimes the plastic sinks and covers the coral, which kills the coral too.

We can help the coral by using less water at home so less wastewater goes into the ocean. We can also help by slowing climate change using less carbon. One way to do that is by riding your bike instead of driving. When I get home I will bike to school at least once a month. Mommy and I used to bike to school but stopped when Baker had to come to school with us. I also will help by cleaning up garbage from the beach. We cleaned up a lot of garbage from the beach in Thailand and I will keep doing it wherever I go!!!!! I love the ocean and want to help to keep it healthy.

Beautiful coral in the Philippines! 🫢🙃

In the Philippines there are more than 500 species of coral and there are 12 species of coral that only live here. There are things here called coral gardens. They are places where coral is alive and so there are a lot of colorful fish there too. My favorite coral were the ones that looked like purple deer antlers. They are my favorite color and it looked like they were GLOWING underwater.

I reserached them and found out they are called STAGHORN CORAL. They are called that because they look like deer antlers so I was right!! HAHAHHAHAHA.

I also saw a lot of brain coral which I love because it was my Grandpa Greg's favorite kind of coral. It look like this:

Artificial Reefs🤖🪸

We swam over a Japanese sunken ship that was shot down by the United States during world war 2. The ship was 42 meters long. There were all sorts of animals and coral growing on it and I had a wondering. Is this sunken ship an artificial reef?

I think it is! Artificial means that humans made it, so it's not natural. And reefs are made out of hard coral and anemones and fish and crabs and lots of other animals. The boat was artificial because humans made it and it had coral and lots of other fish on it so I think it was an artificial reef.

I researched it and found out that people actually sink ships on purpose to make artificial reefs. They do to make more places for coral to live and for reefs to grow. Isn't that cool????

I love the Philippines. I would move here except it's too hot so I'll stay back home. I hope people here protect the coral so a lot more people can see it and want to protect it too. Here is a drawing I made of me snorkeling with the staghorn corals, a school of fish, and a parrot fish.

We are going to Taiwan tomorrow and I'm VERY exctited because that means we are in the land in cute stuff and shopping.

See you in 59 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Ginny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!