The following are videos from Greenpeace

Guimaras oil disaster
While the Esperanza visits the Philippines, it becomes witness to the worst oil spill to ever hit the country. The crew assist in clean up efforts and help assess the damage of this disaster for the marine environment and for the people who live there.

While Mayon volcano continues to exhibit her spectacular beauty and fury starting last July, another natural phenomenon had come into center stage - the recent unusual sightings of several whale sharks that sent hundreds of viewers trooping to two coastal villages of this city.

Residents and visitors gathered for almost a week witnessing nine whale sharks locally known as “Butanding” romping the coastal waters off Barangays Bigaa and Rawis.

Jory Los Baños of the Bicol Divers Foundation Inc., said fishermen sighted the whale sharks last Wednesday, swimming 10 to 15 meters from the shore lines to look for planktons, which, according to fishermen, are abundant in the waters of the Albay Gulf.

Los Baños said as they went to witness the water mammals measuring 10 to 20 feet long, frolicking in the coastal waters of the village, spectators began to gather and marvel at the sight.

The coming of the whale sharks, which go by the scientific name “Rhincodon Typus," has become another tourist attraction for the province of Albay next to the 2,462-meter high Mayon volcano which has been in a state of “quiet” eruption for more than a month now.

City Mayor Noel Rosal said they welcome the migration of the whale sharks as it has become an added boost to Legazpi's tourism industry.

He said he has requested the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Bicol to make a study on whether the planktons eaten by the sea mammals would be sufficient to sustain the presence of the whale sharks.

He also appealed to villagers of the coastal barangays of Bigaa and Rawis to protect the sea creatures and not to disturb, scare, or hurt them so as not to agitate and drive them away.

Butandings were first sighted in Donsol town in Sorsogon in 1997. Their presence made the town earn the title “whale shark capital of the world.”

The Department of Tourism (DOT) in Bicol said the butanding interaction has placed the coastal town of Donsol among the top five tourist destinations in the country.

The DOT noted that in 2005, Donsol town generated some P35 million in revenues because of the whale shark presence especially from February to May.
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