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
Piracy off the coast of Somalia vessels which pass through that area. The rate of attacks in January and February 2009 was about 10 times higher than during the same period in 2008 and "there have been almost daily attacks in March", with 79 attacks, 21 successful, by mid-April. Most of these attacks occurred in the Gulf of Aden but subsequently the pirates increased their range and started attacking ships as far south as off the coast of Kenya in the Indian Ocean. Below are some notable pirate events which have garnered significant media coverage since 2007. On 28 May 2007, a Chinese sailor was killed