The Philippines has had one of the longest covid lockdowns of any other country. The college students in our town are still not back to full time face to face classes! In spite of Covid RFL has continued to grow and hasonly gained more momentum! We now have three new fisherfolk associations established in Canatuan, Tabgon and Ilawod with another on track to be established before the end of 2022!

Accomplishments

• Reefs for Life has established 8 Marine Sanctuaries which directly benefits 10,000 people!

• Marine Sanctuaries Total: 4.88 Square Miles.

• We have 5 Coral Restoration Sites and 3 Coral Nurseries.

• There are 18,000 square feet of active coral reef restoration!

• We have collected over 4,000 Eco Bricks this year which is 4,410 pounds of trash!

• Emergency Response: 15 houses built and relief given to 5,000 people.

• School Supplies to 150 students.

We are thankful that we have been able to upgrade most of our dive team's scuba diving certification. We have also had some tremendous growth at our coral restoration sites! We have so much coral that we plan to set up one more site before the end of 2022!

We have done trash clean-ups, tree plantings, Ocean Themed Murals, and two Eco Brick projects at two local schools (Hanopol and Pandanan). Education is a huge priority for us.  So far this year we have had 400+ people attend our Coral Reef Institute, which is a three week seminar to help fishermen learn to fish sustainably. Without Enforcement there is no sanctuary! Part of our time is spent working with our Sea Wardens, police, coast guard and local leaders to help stop illegal fishing. We also work hard on getting training the fisherfolk association leaders to get the Marine Sanctuaries in to law as well as help develop livelihood projects!

In September, we celebrated Reefs for Life's 7th Anniversary with 8 coastal communities and over 500 people. Special Numbers, a Fashion Show made from trash, games, and food! It is so exciting to see how Reefs for Life is "Transforming Communities Through Conservation".

NEXT YEAR - 2023

Our goal for 2022 was to enter four new communities and we are well on our way with three done and just one more to go! We also will set up one more coral restoration project before the end of the year and do one more Eco Brick Project at a school! We have a target of reaching 3 more coastal communities next year but we need partners! Will you consider helping to adopt one of these three communities with a one time gift or becoming a monthly donor to help sustain the work in the 8 communities we are working in? We have some exciting plans including a Seaweed Livelihood project but we need your help! Go here to make a donation.