Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park

The Tubbataha Reef is situated on the Cagayan Ridge, composing of extinct underwater volcanoes. Being a true atoll

structure, it is believed that the atolls of Tubbataha were formed thousands of years ago as fringing reefs and

volcanic islands. This is based on Charles Darwins theory that atolls are formed when a volcano erupts and afterwards

an island is born. When the volcanoes became extinct and the islands subsided over a long time, only the corals remain,

growing towards the sunlight. The very big corals seen today surrounding the lagoons are originally the fringing reefs.

Scuba divers and environmentalists campaigned to make the reefs a national marine park. With the endorsement of the

Provincial Government of Palawan, on August 11, 1988, President Corazon Aquino signed Proclamation no. 306 establishing

the two Tubbataha Reefs as a national marine park with an area of 332 square kilometres 82,000 acres. This was the

first time that the Philippines have declared a marine area as a national park.In the early years of law enforcement

by the Presidential Task Force, the rangers were housed in a simple canvas tent. In 1996 a wooden structure was built

but shifting sand soon rendered its foundations unstable. At present, the marine park rangers are housed in a styrofoam-

reinforced concrete structure on the Southeast Islet on Tubbathas North Atoll.

Although the reefs are geographically part of the island municipality of Cagayancillo, Palawan, located roughly 130

kilometres 81 mi to the northeast of the reef,the park is managed by the Tubbataha Management Office TMO in Puerto

Princesa. The islands are uninhabited except for the rotating 10 - 12 park rangers at the Rangers Station located at

the southernmost tip of the North Atoll. The combined team from the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard,

Municipality of Cagayancillo and the TMO. Stationed for two months at a time, their job is to protect the park from

illegal activities including fishing and collection of other marine life.