Windy weather persisted during our recent Reef Check Ecodiver course on Koh Tao. Divemaster trainees Vicky Ludlow and Philip Ashley & 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 Ecodiver 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.

In conjunction with the Save Koh Tao Marince 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.