Assessment of coastal turbidity improvement potential by terrigenous sediment load reduction and its implications on seagrass inhabitable area in Banate Bay, central Philippines.

This paper demonstrates the effects of terrigenous sediment load reduction by watershed managements on coastal turbidity in Banate Bay, Iloilo located in central Philippines, using field observations and numerical simulations. Measurements of the total suspended solid and particulate organic carbon indicated that the bulk component of the coastal turbidity comprised terrigenous mineral particles rather than phytoplankton at the rise of the river after heavy rain. The suspended sediment concentration and underwater light intensity were simulated by an atmosphere-watershed-coastal ocean model to investigate the contribution of the terrigenous sediment load to the coastal turbidity in rainy season.