Experienced Ecodiver Kati Pulli during our Reef Check Survey in Mango Bay

Around this time of year it is often a question of when the monsoon weather will hit and how long the madness will last. The last few years on Koh Tao we have been blessed with amazing October weather and this year continues to be no exception.

So with this fine weather on offer Eco Koh Tao conducted a Reef Check Ecodiver course in conjunction with a Project Aware Specialty Program.

It is one of the few short courses students can undertake that provides an in depth look at the marine environment focusing not simply on the creatures that live there but also their pivotal role in the ecosystem.

Reef Check maintains a global eco-monitoring database of the world’s coral reefs. Survey data from around the world is collated at their headquarters in California from vast amounts of surveys conducted by volunteer teams worldwide. This data provides important statistical data available to anyone with a vested interest in specific areas.

During the four-day program students are taught how to identify specific ‘indicator’ species along 100 metre long transect lines. After two days of practice and training, both in the classroom and the water students, along with Experienced Reef Check Ecodiver’s conduct and complete a full Reef Check survey on one of Koh Tao’s shallow bays.

Data from survey conducted on Koh Tao are forwarded to our Reef Check scientist, Dr Suchana ‘Apple’ Chavanich from the department of Marine Science at Chulalungkorn University in Bangkok. Often when doing work like this one wonder’s how productive and useful it is to the end users. After some recent survey data Dr Chavanich sent us this message…

“It is very nice that you are very active in this.  I really appreciate it.  So far the data that we received from you are very useful.  Several persons in the government sectors have asked me about the data since they would like to know the condition of the reefs so that they can make a future management plan.  Again, thank you very much for helping with this.  I really appreciate it.
All the best,
Apple”
 

So far we have conducted numerous Reef Check surveys but have also expanded our surveys to include more indicator species for our local environment in conjunction with the Marine Conservation Koh Tao’s Ecological Monitoring Program. In this way we are extending our sphere of influence so that more stakeholders and interested parties can access the data they need to make informed decisions.