Here at RSDS we have been participating in Reef Check activities for five years. This month our Reef Check Team scientist, Stephan Moldzio has been on site to give various courses and carry out surveys.
We have ten survey sites in total, each of which we survey at two depth contours. The courses and surveys are a lot of fun and help our guests get involved with real life research which helps to conserve the region for the future.
At the beginning of the month, Stephan gave an introduction to the Red Sea Rangers through the Discover Reef Check course. He taught them about the Reef Check methodology and indicator species, as well as sharing the information we have gathered through Reef Check surveys on local reefs so far. The Rangers use many different methods for surveying coral reefs in the Southern Red Sea and are considering building a specific Reef Check team in the south. The introduction given by Stephan enabled them to increase their knowledge about certain species, as well as learn about Reef Check as an organization and the techniques used to collect and submit data. We are looking forward to a closer collaboration with the Rangers in future, in order to gather as much data as possible about the health of our local reefs.
We also held an Eco Diver course for six guests from Czech Republic and Austria, plus our Marsa Shagra instructors Cyril and Mohammed Mahdy. The course involves a mixture of classroom lectures, underwater survey practice, the fun beach exercise and of course the final exams. All the participants thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience which lasts 3-4 days and qualifies participants to carry out Reef Check surveys worldwide. After the course was complete, we completed full surveys at five out of our ten survey sites - Marsa Shagra South, Marsa Shagra North, Marsa Nakari South, Marsa Nakari North and Sharm Abu Dabab. One of the highlights was being joined by two bottlenose dolphins on the final survey at Marsa Nakari North, which felt like an additional reward for all the team's hard work!
Finally we would like to congratulate our Environmental Manager on becoming a qualified Eco Diver Trainer. Sarah will now be able to offer Reef Check Eco Diver courses and Discover Reef Check courses on site to guests. We hope to bring you more details about this very soon, but if you are interested in attending a Reef Check course in one of our villages, please contact [email protected]
You can read more about our Reef Check program at our Eco Effort page and view a collection of photos from the courses on our flickr account.
