Amun Ini runs the most successful coral breeding programme in the Philippines

Dive centre owner Bigs Eggert did not develop the programme because the reefs at her front door are in a desolate state. Rather there were huge, empty sand areas and broken off pieces of corals have been found now and then after storms. “We are sort of running the initial forestation”, explains the German, who has been calling the Visayas region her home for 13 years. “Recently, we have joined mission 2020, a global campaign to reduce CO2 emissions which is supported by the dive industry through own projects and pledges. We are aiming to grow at least 20.000 more corals by the end of 2020. As soon as this goal is reached, we plan to turn the programme into a long-term and sustainable non-profit organisation in order to be able to permanently finance dive master and marine biologist training for local people in cooperation with companies. In return, the companies receive an underwater badge with their logo in one of the forest areas.”

Bigs Eggert explains the project’s huge success rate with the settlement of the corals (Acropora horrida, Acropora intermadia and Acropora robusta) in an area that has been declared a marine sanctuary and is guarded 24 hours a day. The local fishermen were first sceptical about the sanctuary but now are eager advocates of the concept. Not least because Amun ini Dive has offered them dive training and they can now see the important contribution the programme makes to an intact underwater world by themselves.

Diving guests at Amun Ini Beach Resort & Spa who like to participate in the forestation programme receive the corresponding dives for free.

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