Dumaguete marine scientist to help restore damaged coral reefs in PH

SORRY SIGHT A recent survey conducted by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in Escoda (Sabina) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea shows the destruction of the coral bed in the area. —PHOTO COURTESY OF PCG

DUMAGUETE CITY — A local marine scientist based at Silliman University (SU) in this city will lead a three-year research project designed to improve the management and protection of marine life.

Aileen Pascual Maypa, associate professor at the SU Institute of Marine and Environmental Sciences, will be supported by Pew Charitable Trusts based in the U.S. and will help restore and rebuild damaged or declining coral reefs around the country.

Maypa has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation.

“The quality of your research proposal, your professional record, and problem-solving abilities, and your potential to contribute to marine conservation were all factors in the selection committee’s decision,” said Michele Haynes from the Pew fellowship program, in a letter dated December 2024, but which was publicly announced only at the end of March.

Maypa and five other international researchers from China, Curaçao, Indonesia, and South Africa are the newest recipients of the Pew fellowships in marine conservation.

“I am grateful to the Pew. It is good to be appreciated at the global level for doing something that I love doing and which I believe contributes to the common good and sustainability of our future,” said Maypa in an interview on March 27.

Founded in 1948, the Pew Charitable Trusts is an independent, non-profit global research and public policy organization with interests in communities, conservation, finance and economy, governance, and health.

Its vision is to “serve the public interest by improving public policy, informing the public, and invigorating civic life.”

The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation, with more than 200 Fellows from 42 countries, supports mid-career scientists and experts around the world to undertake research to understand and mitigate pressing challenges in the marine environment.

The information produced by the Fellows’ projects is crucial for guiding effective stewardship of complex ocean ecosystems.

Maypa said she would be busy for the next three years accelerating the recovery of the country’s degraded coral reefs.

“This is important for us to do as coral reefs provide vital services to coastal communities, including shoreline protection,” Maypa said.

Reefs create habitats or homes for nearly a quarter of all marine species.

“My first objective is to develop science-based and community-friendly protocols for effective reef restoration,” Maypa said.

This includes developing toolkits outlining effective practices in the communities that can contribute to local and national biodiversity policy frameworks.

Within three years, Maypa said she also aims to collaborate with coral restoration scientists, practitioners, and government agencies to convene the country’s first nationwide coral restoration-focused network.

She said her work based at Silliman will be national in scope.

Maypa said she is collaborating with UP Marine Science Institute in Diliman (Dr. Vanessa Baria-Rodriguez), the UP National Institute of Physics (Dr. Maricor Soriano), the Mindanao State University in Tawi-Tawi (Dr. Richard Mualil), and the University of Guam-Marine Laboratory (headed by former Silliman faculty Dr. Laurie Raymundo).

Her third goal is to contribute to the developing National Coral Reef Program which, she said, has been combined with the Philippine Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan that will also contribute to the “30×30” Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The 30×30 reference is a guide on how to implement the new global target of conserving 30 percent of the earth’s land and sea by the year 2030. This ambitious goal will be done by establishing Protected Areas and other effective area-based conservation measures.

Maypa said that although there are many challenges at the local and national level on marine biodiversity conservation, the support from the Pew is a “validation that there are people and international institutions that support our efforts.”

Among other local concerns, Maypa has been at the forefront of monitoring the current construction of a jetty port on Apo Island, which was given the go-signal by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the same government agency that had declared the Apo Island Protected Landscape and Seascape.

She reminded the environment agency of their mandate on “environmental protection, and not development.”

Maypa joins the ranks of only four other Filipinos who have been awarded the Pew Fellowship program that started 35 years ago in 1990 — two of whom are National Scientists: Dumaguete’s very own National Scientist Angel C. Alcala, National Scientist Edgardo D. Gome, Academician Jurgenne Honculada-Primavera, and former Silliman faculty member Rene Abesamis.

Abesamis, last year’s Pew Fellow, gained national prominence when he called out Dumaguete’s plan to reclaim 174 hectares, or 85 percent of the city’s coastline as a “monumental ecological disaster.”

READ: PH expedition charts WPS marine life needing rehab, protection