Olango Island Group

Olango is a Philippine island and is about five kilometers east of Mactan Island and about 15 km from the city of Cebu City.

Geography

The length of the island is approximately 6 km ( NE-SW ), width about 3 km. It extends between 10 ° 13 'and 10 ° 16' north latitude and between 124 ° 2 ' and 124 ° 04' east longitude.

In the southwest her small islands near the coast upstream: Sulpa, Gilutongan, Nalusuan, Caohagan, Pangan -an and Camungi - they form an enclosed large undersea coral reef archipelago. The island Gilutongan is about 11 hectares and has 1600 inhabitants, they live primarily from fishing. The island is the Gilutongan Marine Sanctuary the goal of diving tourists ..

A little further afield are more islands: from Pandanon, Cabulan and Coamen in the north to Mocaboc and Bagumbanwa in the south, these are among the Caubyan and Calituban reef in the northern part of the island of Bohol. Olango is like the island of Mactan counted to the waters of Danajon - reef system, the largest reef system in the Philippines, which is relatively unknown but.

The Olango archipelago is bounded by the Camotes Sea to the north, the road from Cebu in the south, the Olango Channel to the east and Hilutungan Canal in the west. The tidal range along the coast of Olango reaches an average height of 1 meter.

The total area of ​​the main island is about 1030 hectares. The topographic characteristics of the island is described as a flat country with a low pitch, the highest elevation of the island reaches a height of 9 meters above the sea level and is located near the island center.

Geology

Geologic builds on the underground of the island and the archipelago on limestone, which is assigned to the Carcar Formation, was formed at the boundary of the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and thus has an age 3-2 million years. The Olango archipelago is formed by tectonic forces that have lifted the building on the limestone massif of coral reefs on the sea surface. There are also Schwemmsande, which, as created by weathered and eroded shells and crab shells by weathering and erosion of situated above the water coral reefs along the coasts of the islands of the archipelago.

Hydrology

On the island of Olango are no streams or rivers, but there are freshwater leading aquifers on the island. These are formed by cavities and interconnected porous limestone formations in which penetrate rain water and can be stored. These groundwater reservoirs are filled during the months of June to December by natural inflow of rainwater annually.

Territory & Population

The Olango archipelago belongs to the province of Cebu, however, is divided in its administration. The islands of Olango Camungi, Pangan -an, Caohagan, Sulpa and Caubian belong to the administrative unit of the city of Lapu -Lapu, the islands Nalusuan and Gilutongan belong to the administrative unit of the municipality Cordova. To the islands Nalusuan and Gilutongan also marine conservation areas have been established since the late 1990s.

On the island of Olango are eight barangays with more than 32,000 inhabitants:

• Sabang
• Santa Rosa
• San Vicente
• Talima
• Tingo
• Tungasan

Olango Wildlife Sanctuary

On 14 May 1992 the Olango Wildlife Sanctuary, short OWS, set up according to the guidelines of the National Integrated Protected Areas System. The OWS was the first Filipino reserve for the protection of internationally important wetland areas, added to the list of the Ramsar Convention on 18 November 1994.

It covers an area of ​​approximately 920 hectares and is bounded by the Baranggay Sabang in the east, from Sitio Aguho in the north, and the sitios of Basdaku and Bascoral in the West. The nature reserve is located in the southern part of the island of Olango. The surface structure of the conservation area is formed by flat sand dunes, shallow limestone areas and seagrass beds combined with mangrove forests.

In the OWS total of 97 different species of birds were observed, of which 42 are indigenous and 48 migratory birds that use the OWS as a resting place during their train of Siberia, Japan and China to Indonesia and Australia.

In Barangay San Vincente, the Department of Environment and Natural Ressourses an information center founded does inform about the Olango Wildlife Sanctuary.

Flora of the islands

The flora of the archipelago is ( philippinense Camptostemon ) dominated by different kinds of mangroves, such as the Bakhaw, the Pagatpat ( Sonneratia caseolaris ) and the Gapas - Gapas. There are in the north of the island of Olango some plantings of the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera). There is also a growing Ipil Ipil - tree ( Leucaena leucocephala ), the Kamotingkahoy (Manihot esculentum), the Kanding - Kanding ( Lantana camara ), the Tugas ( Vitex parviflora ), the Bayabas ( Psidium guajava ), the Bantigue ( Pemphis acidula ), the Madre de cacao ( Gliricidia sepium ) and some other plants.

Flora and fauna of the maritime areas

The maritime areas of the archipelago cover a total of 2,243 hectares of coral reefs, where reef-building corals of 103 species, 4 are not reef-building and 4 soft coral species were counted. In most areas of the coral reefs have a slope of 40 to 50 degrees. The coral reefs around the island Pangan - to have the highest diversity of corals in Olango archipelago. Before the island Gilutongan the Gilutongan Marine Sanctuary was established in 1991 on an area of ​​initially 11, later extended to 15 hectares, to operate the municipality of Cordova furnished.

In the shallow waters of the coastal areas extend over an area of ​​1,756 hectares of extensive seagrass beds, which are upstream of the coral reefs. Here you will find a total of 8 of the 16 species of seagrass that occur in the Philippines. Furthermore, here find 28 red algae, 27 green algae and 17 species of brown algae.

There are about coral and seagrass beds a diverse life, a total of 33 species of molluscs, 19 species echinoderms, 5 species of sponges, 4 species of crustaceans and 2 kinds of cnidarians were counted.

On the coasts of a total of 144 species of fish were found, originating from 25 different different families. Thus, puffer fish ( Tetraodontidae ), lizard fish ( Synodontidae ), pipefish ( Syngnathidae ), rabbit fish ( Siganidae ), groupers ( Serranidae ), scorpionfish ( Scorpaenidae ), parrotfish ( Scaridae ), damselfish (Pomacentridae ), blue cod ( Pinguipedidae ), angelfish ( Pomacanthidae ), apparent snapper ( Nemipteridae ), mullets ( Mullidae ), snappers ( Lutjanidae ), United head snapper ( Lethrinidae ), wrasses ( Labridae ), Soldiers' and hussars fish ( Holocentridae ) Soapfish ( Grammistidae ), Hawkfish ( Cirrhitidae ), butterfly fishes ( Chaetodontidae ) fusiliers ( Caesionidae ), blennies ( Blenniidae ), triggerfish ( Balistidae ), jewelry box fish ( Aracanidae ), cardinal fish ( Apogonidae ) and surgeonfish ( Acanthuridae ) are observed in the marine areas of Olango archipelago.