Bantayan Island

Bantayan Island is an island located in the Visayan Sea, Philippines. It is situated to the west of the northern end of Cebu, across the Tañon Strait. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of.
The island is administratively divided into three municipalities:

Bantayan
Madridejos
Santa Fe

The island area is. The island is mostly covered with coconut trees; the elevation is mostly below, with only one taller hill, at, in barangay Atop-atop.

Geography

Island group

Bantayan is the main and largest island of the Bantayan island group that lies close to the geographical center of the Philippine archipelago.
The island group includes numerous smaller islands, mostly around the southwest corner of the island. About 20 of these islets stretch for about southwest from Bantayan municipality port area, with some nearer ones being accessible on foot from the main island at low tide. The islands are beside the busy shipping lanes for ships and ferries coming from Mindanao or Cebu City on their way to Manila. The islands are all small and green and low, virtually indistinguishable one from another.
Some of the more notable are:

Islands

In addition, Guintacan Island to the northeast is part of Santa Fe municipality although it is not part of the Bantayan islands group archipelago.

Demographics

Language

The Bantayanon language is mostly a mixture of different neighbouring Visayan languages: The principally native Cebuano and Hiligaynon, Boholano, Masbateño and Waray-Waray. However it has its own words such as "kakyop", and "sara".

Climate

The climate is typically equatorial – temperature range over the year is less than three degrees Celsius, and annual rainfall exceeds. January to April inclusive are less wet than the other months. This supports at least two rice crops per year. The climate in Bantayan falls within Coronas climate type IV, characterised by not very pronounced maximum rainfall with a short dry season from one to three months and a wet season of nine to ten months. The dry season starts in February and lasts through April sometimes extending to midMay.
Bantayan has a tropical climate. Most months of the year are marked by significant rainfall. The short dry season has little impact. This location is classified as Am by Köppen–Geiger climate classification system.

Geology

Like most of Cebu province, the lithology of the island consists of two unit types:
As a consequence of the geology, water supplies are hard.

National protected areas

Bantayan and its surrounding islands have been included in several pieces of legislation giving protected status.

Wilderness area

In 1981 President Marcos signed proclamation no. 2151 giving certain parts of the country protected status. This included Bantayan Island with the status of a "Wilderness Area", although its physical extent was undefined, albeit the proclamation described all the areas named as "containing an aggregate area of, more or less". Eleven years later the Philippine Congress passed Republic Act 7586 – the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, managed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources – which reaffirmed the protected status. However it too did not specify the extent of Bantayan Island Wilderness Area, which is therefore taken to include the whole island group, more than.
After 2013's Typhoon Yolanda, there has naturally been a need and desire for reconstruction, however one major problem is that because of the designation, there is little land titling, and international relief organizations are reluctant to fund construction on land where title does not exist. the start of initiatives to define the area, and to devise a general plan for its management. That plan recommends retaining only as strictly protected wildlife reserves, or % of the original BIWA, and allowing multi-use zoning of. From that has arisen a more concrete proposal regarding reclassification. the plan is to be recommended to Congress.

Tourist zone and marine reserve

Presidential proclamation no. 1801 of 1978 established Tourist zones and marine reserves, and placed the island of Hilutungan within its scope.

Protected seascape

The Tañon Strait protected seascape was established by President Ramos under proclamation no. 1234 of 1998. This includes more than of the eastern shoreline of Bantayan island., 17 years after its declaration, the first summit on the Tañon Strait protected seascape is to be held.

Agriculture

The dominant uncultivated vegetation is ipil-ipil. Cultivated crops include coconut, cassava, banana, sugarcane, corn and mango.
The principal cash crops are:

Plant	Area	Yield
Corn	400	tonnes
Mango	47.53	455 tonnes
Chico	23	n/a
Coconut	713	n/a

Fauna

The common wolf snake can occasionally be found on the island.
The following list shows birds whose presence has been verified:

Eastern reef-egret - Egretta sacra
Chinese egret - Egretta eulophotes
Little heron - Butorides striata
Grey plover - Pluvialis squatarola
Greater sand-plover - Charadrius leschenaultii
Eurasian whimbrel - Numenius phaeopus
Ruddy turnstone - Arenaria interpres
Godwit sp - Limosa sp
Lesser frigatebird - Fregata ariel
Pied harrier - Circus melanoleucos
Black-chinned fruit dove - Ptilinopus leclancheri
Philippine collared dove - Streptopelia dusumieri
Island swiftlet - Collocalia vanikorensis
White-collared kingfisher - Halcyon chloris

In a survey conducted on Carnaza Island on July 16–20, 1990, a total of 18 species of birds representing 7 orders and 15 families were identified and reported. The most common species observed were Glossy Swiftlets, White-collared Kingfishers, Pied Trillers, Black-naped Orioles, Philippine mapgie robins, Malaysia fantails, White-breasted Woodswallows, glossy starlings, yellow-breasted sunbirds and Eurasian tree sparrows. For the rest of the species either only one or two individuals were seen or only either calls were heard.
The islanders revealed that the Tabon bird used to be numerous in Carnaza Island.
Also listed on the survey are the orders Cephalopoda, Gastropoda and Pelecypoda. Two genera of Cephalopods were identified, namely; Sepia and Sepioteuthis.
A total of 36 species belonging to 19 families of gastropods have been listed. However, further study is needed to get a complete listing of the gastropods in the area.

The sea

The coast of Bantayan and its islands mostly alternates between mangal and palm trees. Because of the shallow slope on the shelf, the intertidal area can be quite extended, leading to rocky and muddy shallows at low tide. This means that places with a sandy shore – a beach – are infrequent. Good beaches can be found in the southeast around Santa Fe, and in the northwest at Patao and Madridejos. Even these though are not cleaned, and depending on the currents there can be considerable amounts of flotsam and jetsam on the beach and in the sea.

Coral

Of the approximately 500 varieties of coral known worldwide, about 400 are found in the Philippines. However their future is seriously threatened – mainly due to destructive fishing techniques, such as blast fishing and cyanide fishing, which indiscriminately destroy much of the ecosystem, including the coral reefs. In addition, global warming and ocean acidification also contribute significantly to worldwide loss. Globally coral sees 50%–70% threatened or lost; southeast Asian coral reefs are in even worse condition, and it is estimated in the Philippines the figure under threat is greater than 90%, with less than 1% in good condition. Until now proper compliance of international laws has been poor, although it is starting to be taken seriously. Meanwhile, other efforts are under way in Bantayan to accelerate the regrowth, using coral farms.

Starfish

There are many starfish to be seen in the intertidal area. Their detrivorous diet helps keep the water clean. Further out though, the crown-of-thorns starfish is a considerable threat to the coral reef, because of its voracious hunger for the coral.

Mangal

s are salt-tolerant, woody, seed-bearing plants that are found in tropical and subtropical areas where they are subject to periodic tidal inundation. The Philippines has over 40 species of mangroves and is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world as there are only about 70 species of mangroves worldwide. The mangrove ecosystem is a very diverse one and is home to many birds, fish, mammals, crustaceans and other animals.
Mangroves provide an important nursery for fish, shellfish and other organisms. It is estimated that each hectare of mangrove can provide food for 1,000 kg of marine organisms. With this abundance of food for fish present in the mangroves, each hectare of mangal yields 283.5 metric tons of fish per year. Mangroves also provide other important functions such as preventing soil erosion and protecting shoreline from typhoons and strong waves. Mangroves provide many other products and services such as medicines, alcohol, housing materials and are an area for research and tourism.
However even with all of these known benefits the state of mangroves within the Philippines is very dim. In the early 1900s there were approximately of mangroves but today there are only about. Many of the mangrove areas were destroyed to make way for fishponds and reclamation areas. They were used indiscriminately for housing – both building materials and reclamation – and were disturbed by siltation and pollution.
Now that the true benefit of these ecosystems is known there is protection and rehabilitation of these important ecosystems. It is now illegal to cut down mangroves for any purpose and local governments and community organizations have taken active roles in planting and managing mangrove plantations. There is hope that in the future mangroves will return to the healthy status that they once held.