Reef Check Training Upgrade with MNS

Dear all,

I have gotten an invite from the Malaysian Nature Society's Marine Group to join in on their Reef Check training upgrade course. Those who can participate are all those previously on Marine Conservation Project. Those who have previously done a Reef Check course with Saras Kumar, Karenne Tun or Badrul Huzaimi can also come for the upgrade. This course will automatically upgrade you to EcoDiver.

Classroom Training
Date: 21 July 2007
Time: 2pm (till maybe about 7pm)
Venue: MNS HQ Auditorium
Trainer: Saras Kumar (Reef Check Malaysia & Head of MNS Marine Group)
Fees: FREE

Island Training
Date: To be decided
Venue: Tioman Dive Centre
Trainer: Saras Kumar
Fees: RM480 (inclusive of twin sharing room)

Please drop me a mail at marineconservationproject[at]gmail[dot]com to reserve a spot. Seats are truly limited. First come first served basis.

April : Reef Checking in Tioman

outer divers: andre & vignes doing the invertebrate survey
center: julian hyde doing the substrate survey


Over the weekend of the 20th - 21st of April Reef Check Malaysia conducted reef checks on Tioman and Redang islands. Marine Conservation Project's sole volunteer Vignes Balasingam went down to Tioman to help Julian and his team on four reef surveys on Ringgis and Pirate Reef on the 20th and Kador and Batu Malang on the 21st. The survey team consisted of four persons; one to lay the line and do the substrates, a fish counter and two more doing the invertebrates.

On this trip divers from Bali Hai Divers at Penuba on Tioman spotted Manta rays in the distance while diving at Tiger Reef. This is a rare sighting as Tioman isnt too popular with Manta sightings.

Along with that amazing sighting, divers out at Ringgis saw three 5.5 foot long Black Tip Reef Sharks swimming by the outer rim of the reef. Just good luck, Kaj (TDC's instructor) had brought his video camera down for the dive and recorded that spectacular sighting. Harry, a travel diver there made some pictures of the sharks. Here's one from his collection.




Enough on great diving. Next is the update on what some of the Marine Conservation Project members have been doing:

On the 17th of April 2007, Ng Siaw Ling, Edmund Lau and CK attended (and completed) the Reef Check classroom training with Julian Hyde in KL. What was supposed to have been a two-session classroom training was complete in just one session. Mr Hyde was well chuffed! Goes to show that us fellas from Marine Conservation Project arent too shabby!

Siaw Ling and Edmund will be off to Tioman in June to finish up the training and get themselves certified as EcoDivers. CK will be finishing his EcoDiver training upon returning from the Sabah Expedition in August. The poor fella has never done reef checks in the past and was just blown away by the technicalities involved. But the good spirited CK took it in stride and will definitely have a better time understanding things when he goes diving on expedition.

With the training to be completed in June we would have our core team of EcoDivers!


More EcoDiver Training

Marine Conservation will be organising another Reef Check EcoDiver training session in May. Please email marineconservationproject@gmail.com to sign up for it. Dates will be planned out once we get a minimum of three volunteers. For more information on the programme please refer to the postings below.

For those of you planning to getting yourself certified as an Open Water Diver please email me your details and when you are intending to doing this.

Till then, hear soon.

International Declaration of Reef Rights

In honor of the International Year of the Reef in 2008, Reef Check is requesting you to sign our Declaration of Reef Rights. The purpose of this pledge is to highlight the high value of coral reefs and to encourage all people and governments to support coral reef conservation. Please copy and paste this link to find out more http://www.reefcheck.org/petition/petition.php

Please take the time to check out the petition page and pledge your support to our marine ecosystem.



*some text and the above image is courtesey of Reef Check

Events in April & June 2007

Marine Conservation Project will be organising numerous events in April in conjunction with Dive Into Earth Day. To foster the spirit of conservation and an appreciation for the marine ecosystem, Marine Conservation Project will be working with Reef Check Malaysia to organise Reef Check training sessions as a run up to Dive Into Earth Day. The programmes are as follows:

1. Reef Check EcoDiver Training Upgrade
(for those who have previously done the Reef Check training)
21st - 22nd April 2007
Tioman Dive Center, Kg Tekek, Tioman
RM460
inclusive of training materials, 4 reef check training & test dives, class lectures, trainer fees, bed & breakfast

Classroom sessions will be conducted in Kuala Lumpur
This is so you dont need to spend more money/time on the island studying. Sessions will be conducted at the address below by Julian Hyde or Saras Kumar.
4.117, Wisma Central
Jalan Ampang, KL
(next to KLCC)
Dates for the KL clssroom training are tentatively 7th - 8th April 2007

Maximum of 8 participants only

Optional Leisure Dives
RM70 per dive
Equipment
RM15 per day (50% discount)
inclusive of boat charter
cost per dive decreases with the more dives you do

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2. Reef Check Surveys
Four Reef Check surveys will be held in conjusction with Dive Into Earth Day sponsored by HSBC. Participation limeted to EcoDivers and instructors only.

Details:
20th - 21st April 2007
Tioman Dive Center
Tioman Island


3. Reef Check EcoDiver Training
open to anyone with a valid diving license (and good buoyancy skills)
This training is for divers who have no previous Reef Check training.

7th - 10th June 2007
Tioman Dive Center, Kg Tekek, Tioman
RM760
inclusive of training materials, 4 reef check training & test dives, class lectures, trainer fees

Maximum of 8 participants




Notes:
Please register for the above programmes no later than 3 weeks of the event date. Please make your participation bookings to marineconservationproject@gmail.com

Bus rides to Mersing are typically RM23++ and boarding at Pudu Raya bus station. There are two different rides to the island from Mersing. The ferry is RM35 and takes approx. 2.5 hours. The speedboat is RM45 and takes 1.5 hours approx. Twin sharing rooms at the Swiss Cottage is RM65 for the fan cooled longhouse. Breakfast is included. Lunch and dinner cost is simillar to eating out at a stall in KL.

For more information on Dive Into Earth Day, visit:
http://www.coralreefalliance.org/divein/

Reef Check Malaysia's First Graduates

Over the last week (7-9th March 2007), both Nathrah Johar Salim & Vignes Balasingam became Reef Check Malaysia's first graduates after successfully passing the Reef Check EcoDiver exams. To be recognised as a Reef Checker, all previous Marine Conservation Project volunteers will also need to sit for the EcoDiver exam. This is in line with Reef Check Malaysia's plight to keep the standards of Reef Checkers and the consistency of the Reef Check survey data.



The curiculum includes tutorial and exam sessions in the classroom as well as on the coral reefs. For those of you who have previously done the Reef Check training with Karenne Tun, Saras Kumar or Badrul, this course is no different. Reef Check has recently made some necessary changes to the indicator species as well as caterories for some species for the Malaysian region however everything is essentially the same.

The passing mark is pretty steep, a crazy 80%. The reason is obvious as Reef Check needs to ensure that those they qualify are proficient with the auditing method and familiar with the various organisms. There are two status levels upon completing the course. A Complete status means that you have completed the course but have not passed the exams. A Pass status means that you have completed the course AND passed the exams. You will need to pass in order to be recognised as a Reef Checker.

There is a partial pass as well. This happens when you for example pass the Invertibrate and Substrate tests but fail the Fish tests. This means you will be only authorised to do the Inverts & Substrate surveys but NOT the fish. All you will need to do then is to just sit for the Fish tests and score 80% or more. You will then be recognised as a full fledged Reef Checker.

But that's not all that's happened. Reef Check is now the United Nation's official reef monitoring authority. With this comes big grants from UNEP and other organisations. DEFRA is the principal funder for Reef Check Malaysia. And to top that, a whole list of ambassadors have joined the Reef Check cause. Personalities include Kelly Hu, Cameron Diaz and Jessica Alba. Leonardo DiCaprio is an Honourary Chairman of Reef Check. Yes folks, Reef Check is taking off big time.

Marine Conservation Project will be working with Reef Check Malaysia to organise:
1) Reef Check Training refresher course (for those of you who have previously done the Reef Check training)
2) Reef Check Training (for those of you who have never done the Reef Check training)

Please look out for more posts on the above trainings on this blog.

Since Bravo in 2005

Greetings everyone. Since our last project in 2005, we have been very busy with things here at Marine Conservation Project. I personally have been working on the PR bits of Reef Check Malaysia, now an officially registered non-profit organisation.

The key person behind Reef Check Malysia is Julian Hyde, once an environmental consultant and now the head honcho at Tioman Dive Centre. With him is Lee Siew Yeen and Saras Kumar. For those of you who dont know, Julian and his team dive-traind most of the original Marine Conservation Project volunteers and Saras trained some of us on the Reef Check survey method. Saras was also team scientist for the Alpha project in April of 2005. Reef Check Malaysia also works with Affendi Yang Amri, a coral specialist and lecturer at Universiti Malaya and Badrul Huzaimi, Affendi's post-graduate from the university. The Ministry of Natural Resource & Environment is a key partner in this project. And finally, all this is made possible through funding by DEFRA (the Department of Food and Rural Affairs), a UK government-based organisation.

Reef Check Malaysia is recognised by the Reef Check Foundation http://reefcheck.org/ in USA as the overseeing body in Malaysia. This brings many good things. For one, Reef Check training will be more available, accessible and easier through Reef Check Malaysia.

There will be more updates in the near future. We are planning for projects and activities to begin in April 2007 so please bookmark us and keep your eyes on this blog.