Reef Map · Philippines
Reef Map of the Philippines
The Philippines sits at the northern apex of the Coral Triangle, with reefs from the Lingayen Gulf in the north to the Sulu Archipelago in the south. This map groups the country's best-studied reef areas into eight regions across Luzon, the Visayas, Mindanao, and Palawan and the Sulu Sea. Each region links to an academic overview of its geography, biodiversity, condition, threats, management, key studies, restoration work and open research questions, with numbered, checked sources.
All 8 regional overviews are published. Each is a living document and is updated as new studies appear.
The map loads when it scrolls into view. The full list of regions below works without it.
Map: Leaflet (BSD-2-Clause) · Coastline: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Region markers are approximate and are not legal or administrative boundaries.
All regions
Luzon
Bolinao and the Lingayen Gulf
North-western Luzon, Pangasinan and La Union
The Philippines' main field laboratory for reef restoration science. The UP Marine Science Institute's Bolinao Marine Laboratory has tested coral larval reseeding, giant clam and sea urchin restocking, and coral transplantation here for decades, against heavy pressure from mariculture, sediment and storms.
Ready · 1,608 words · 25 sourcesVerde Island Passage
Batangas, Mindoro, Marinduque and Romblon
The strait between Batangas and Mindoro, often called the centre of the centre of marine shore-fish biodiversity. Strong currents, mesophotic reefs and some resilient coral communities share the water with one of the country's busiest shipping and industrial corridors, and with the 2023 Princess Empress oil spill.
Ready · 2,174 words · 33 sources
Visayas
Apo Island, Negros and Siquijor
Southern Negros Oriental, Siquijor and the Bohol Sea margin
The birthplace of community no-take marine reserves in the Philippines. More than four decades of Silliman University monitoring at Apo and Sumilon islands make this one of the best long-term natural experiments in coral reef fisheries science anywhere.
Ready · 1,827 words · 27 sourcesDanajon Bank, Bohol and Cebu
Central Visayas: the double barrier reef, Olango and the Cebu coasts
The only double barrier reef in the Philippines, ringed by more than a hundred thousand small-scale fishers, alongside the dive reefs of Panglao, Balicasag and Cebu. Decades of community marine sanctuaries, seahorse research and long-term monitoring meet heavy fishing pressure, blast fishing and the 2021 typhoon.
Ready · 1,868 words · 29 sources
Mindanao
Mindanao's reef coasts
Davao Gulf, Pujada Bay, Sarangani and northern Mindanao
Mindanao faces three seas: the Pacific, the Celebes Sea and the Bohol Sea. It holds some of the country's largest protected seascapes and a growing base of reef science in its own state universities, including Mindanao State University, Davao Oriental State University and Caraga State University, but it is less studied than Luzon or the Visayas.
Ready · 1,486 words · 30 sourcesSulu Archipelago and Tawi-Tawi
The Sulu–Sulawesi seascape at the southern edge of the Coral Triangle
Hundreds of islands and some of the country's largest reef systems between Mindanao and Borneo. Market surveys by Mindanao State University in Tawi-Tawi record the richest commercial reef-fish fauna in the Philippines, alongside the Turtle Islands green turtle rookery, yet the reefs remain among the least studied in the country.
Ready · 1,218 words · 20 sources
Palawan and the Sulu Sea
Northern Palawan
El Nido, Taytay, the Calamianes and the north-east Palawan coast
Karst islands, fringing reefs and fast-growing island tourism. The region shows how watershed erosion, wastewater and visitor pressure act on reefs that sit inside the Sulu Sea biogeographic region, where national surveys find the country's best-developed reefs.
Ready · 2,172 words · 34 sourcesTubbataha and the central Sulu Sea
Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, Cagayancillo and the Sulu Sea atolls
The Philippines' reference reef. A remote, uninhabited no-take World Heritage park in the middle of the Sulu Sea, with some of the highest reef-shark densities recorded anywhere, long-term coral benchmarks from De La Salle University, and recent declines that researchers are still trying to explain.
Ready · 1,542 words · 28 sources
Why these eight regions
The list follows where Philippine reef science is concentrated and where reef systems are distinct: the oceanography, reef type and management history differ between regions. Luzon is represented by the Bolinao–Lingayen Gulf system, home to the UP Marine Science Institute's Bolinao Marine Laboratory and the longest record of larval restoration in the country, and by the Verde Island Passage, singled out as a peak of marine shore-fish diversity. The Visayas are split into two systems with different science traditions: Apo Island and southern Negros, where Silliman University's decades-long marine reserve studies were made, and the Danajon Bank double barrier reef with Bohol and Cebu. Mindanao has its Pacific and Celebes Sea coasts, where Mindanao State University and Davao Oriental State University run reef programmes, and the Sulu Archipelago and Tawi-Tawi at the southern edge of the Coral Triangle. Palawan and the Sulu Sea cover Northern Palawan, where tourism and watershed pressures are well documented, and the offshore atolls of Tubbataha, the country's reference site for a near-pristine reef.
Text: original synthesis, CC BY-SA 4.0. Sources are cited inline and listed on each region page. This is a research overview, not management or legal advice.