Tubbataha Reefs now off limits to passing ships

Large ships will no longer be allowed to sail at the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in the Sulu Sea, a report on Unang Balita on Thursday said.

This was after the International Maritime Organization approved the Philippines' proposal to declare Tubbataha as an "area to be avoided."

The aim of the regulation is to protect the natural resources of the area.

In January 2013, the USS Guardian of the US Navy ran aground in Tubbataha.

It took more than two months before the ship was extracted from the area.

The incident damaged more than 2,000 square meters of the reef.

The US Navy apologized for the incident, and the US government was fined P60 million.

Tubbataha Reefs was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. —KG, GMA News