Eco Koh Tao | Eco Diving Courses, Gap Year Opportunities and Eco Internships

June 30th, 2011 – Reef Check Ecodiver Course Completed with a Survey of Twins
A relatively quiet month of Eco on has concluded with a bang with a much needed Reef Check Survey of one of our ‘Adopt-a-Reef’ sites. During the course students undertake detailed classroom lectures on organism ID and its role in the ecosystem before diving on local reefs to get first hand experience of some of the things discussed in class. On the afternoon of the 30th, WIl Webster, along with Instructor Nathan Cook headed to one of our regularly surveyed sights, Twins for a Reef Check Survey or the reef. People often ask whether the reef is good or bad based on our data but long term monitoring is designed to indicate changes over time so causes can be identified and solutions developed when problems do arise.
On the surveys we have an area where we can list any ‘rare animals’ spotted during the survey. This includes sharks, rays and turtles. Unfortunately we don’t get to fill those columns in very often. In fact, we haven’t had to fill them in ever until today when, while completing the last of our tasks a Hawksbill Turtle cruised by to say a quick ‘Hello’. It was a great end to a great afternoon of ‘Eco’ Our Reef Check surveys are also conducted in conjunction with the Save Koh Tao Groups Ecological Monitoring Program collecting data for our local conservation efforts as well. Marine Conservation Koh Tao www.marineconservationkohtao.com Save Koh Tao www.savekohtao.com Crystal Dive www.crystaldive.com
Newly certified Ecodiver Wil Webster giving us the sign for Hard Coral during his substrate survey.	We found a pesky Crown of Thorms starfish on our nearby coral nursery and promptly relocated it.
We were lucky enough to have a Hawksbill turtle glide by near the end of our survey.
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