Date: 13 November 2014

Place: Sydney, Australia

The 5th CTI-CFF Regional Exchange on Marine Protected Areas (REX5), recently held in Cebu, Philippines, significantly advanced progress on the implementation of the Coral Triangle Marine Protected Area System (CTMPAS).

Forty representatives from CTI-CFF member countries and partner organizations developed roadmaps to improve the management of marine protected areas under CTMPAS during the workshop held on Mactan Island, Cebu, from 14–18 July 2014.

More and more, the six CTI-CFF Member States are taking ownership of The Coral Triangle Day, which has become a month-long celebration for some countries. As of this posting, partial reports indicate that this year’s celebrations started as early as May 30 and included at least 36 activities involving thousands of participants across the Coral Triangle region, including Fiji.

Reports from Indonesia say The CT Day was celebrated in at least Bali, Makassar, and Jakarta, with larger events involving some 1,000 people.

Interact with the world's first 360° infographic produced by the Catlin Seaview Survey to help celebrate "The Coral Triangle Day" in 2014.

Scientists from the Philippines’ National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) have developed a DNA-based technique that can uniquely identify marine and aquatic species. This method has broad applications, including monitoring population distribution, biodiversity, and the collection and trade of species.

In a press release dated June 17, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a CTI-CFF Development Partner, announced it will embark on a three-year initiative called “Mapping Ocean Wealth.”

The announcement was made in line with TNC’s participation at the “Our Ocean” Conference hosted by the U.S. State Department on June 16-17 in Washington, D.C.

A study by the German development agency GIZ has lauded the CTI-CFF National Coordination Committee in the Philippines (NCC-Philippines) for its effectiveness in assembling and coordinating with a variety of stakeholders and organizations.

Such effectiveness gives NCC-Philippines a high potential “to bring in people whose positions can influence national decision-making” and contribute toward achieving their goals, particularly with respect to the CTI-CFF National Plan of Action (NPOA), the study noted, urging the body to harness “this potential continually and sustainably.”

Following public outcry over reported killings of endangered sea turtles inside the proposed Tun Mustapha Park (TMP) three months ago, authorities are hoping the Park will be gazetted as scheduled in 2015.

“The public’s reaction to recent reports on the turtle killings highlighted the dire need to gazette TMP. People see and support this, and I am quite relieved that this is the case,” said TMP Park Manager Augustine Binson in a recent email interview.