On Jan. 17, 2013, the USS Guardian, a 68-meter-long US Navy warship, entered Tubbataha to accidentally plough into its South Atoll, home to the last 8,000 or so Philippine Black Noddies, which are critically endangered seabirds. It took 73 excruciating days and $45 million to slice and remove the 1,300-ton Avenger-class minesweeper from the reef. When the silt settled, Tubbataha South Atoll was 2,345 square meters of reef poorer. Just eight days after the minesweeper was extracted, another vessel followed suit. On April 8, 2013, Tubbataha park rangers discovered the FV Min Long Yu, a 48-meter-long Chinese poachers’ vessel, floundering a 1.8 km east of the Ranger Station, part of Tubbataha’s North Atoll. By the time the craft was towed out 11 days later, another 3,902 square meters of reef had been obliterated. Worse, 2,870 endangered pangolins were found aboard—all dead.

Yan, G. (2014, August 1). Tubbataha a year after the scarring by US Navy ship. Philippine Daily Inquirer, pp. A1, A12.