Apo Reef in 1980. This was followed with the local government of Sablayan declaring the reef a special "Tourism Zone and Marine Reserve" three years later. In 1996, the entire reef was declared a protected natural park by then-president Fidel Ramos. In 2006, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources submitted the reef to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre for consideration as a World Heritage Site. Following a survey by the local chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature, fishing within the reef was banned by the Philippine government in September 2007. The
Unmanned reef lights of the Florida Keys looked like smaller versions of the older reef lights, but had no keeper's quarters. The first two unmanned lights in the Florida Keys, the Molasses Reef Light and the Pacific Reef Light, were built to the same plan in 1921. The Molasses Reef Light is still standing, but the lantern has been removed, and a NOAA automatic weather station now sits at the top of the tower. The tower, which is painted brown, stands in of water. The United States Coast Guard indicates that a lightship was stationed at Pacific Reef starting in 1838. The Pacific Reef Light erected in