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August 8th, 2009
New Reef Check Eco Divers Certified on Koh Tao
 Windy
weather persisted during our recent Reef Check Eco Diver course
around then waters of Koh Tao.
Divemaster trainees
Vicky Ludlow, Philip Ashley plus Advanced Open Water diver Jessica
Pic, all took part in the latest round of environmentally focused
training from Eco Koh Tao.
The three days
were very successful with all participants thoroughly enjoying taking
a detailed look at reefs that they had previously swam by with little
knowledge.
The first two
days of training involved learning about the animals and other organisms
that live in a reef environment taking greater interest in some
of the lesser lights of the reef rather than simply the colourful
and pretty fish.
On our final
day the group were joined by instructor and Eco Diver Debbie Gottdenker
for a full Reef Check Survey on our local reefs. We managed to conduct
two transect lines one, the first we believe, to be conducted at
Japanese Gardens, an important sight for Koh Tao with its popularity
for dive schools.
This sort of
data is integral to future preservation of Koh Tao’s reefs
allowing us to monitor and track changes so that any adverse effects
can be quantified.
Having this information
over a long period of time will be important in influencing policy
makers develop suitable management plans for this small, fragile
ecosystem.
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Jessica
with her Reef Check Slate and the
important reef data during a survey in Mango Bay |
Phillip
and Vikki transcribing their Reef
Check Data on the boat after the survey |
In
conjunction with the Save Koh Tao Marine Conservation Branch while
collecting Reef Check data we also managed to collect data to be
submitted under our local EMP (Ecological Monitoring Program) thus
helping to share this important information.
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