A Survey to Remember: Reef Check

 Since our last volunteer, Rachel, finished her time with us, we have been relatively quiet, keeping ourselves busy painting signs for a local food store, setting up our new compost bin and managing our garden, with the occasional dive thrown in for training purposes.

Sabi's planted goodies

Dave adding finishing touches to sign

Neil's compost bin

This week however, we were joined by Sue and Alvin of ReefCheck Malaysia, who were visiting the islands to conduct their annual Reef Check surveys. If you followed our research last year, you will know that our methods are adapted from the original Reef Check methodology, so it is all very relevant, and Reef Check visit the islands once a year to monitor the health of 10 coral reef sites.

Alvin (left) and Sue (right) at the end of our Batu Layar survey

Last year, both Sabina and I (Neil) were lucky enough to be trained, along with Seh Ling from Ecoteer, as Reef Check Eco-Divers. This year, we (Blue Temple) offered to collaborate with Reef Check on their surveys, providing accommodation and assistance (and tanks, which they refused!) to work together to collect their all-important data.

So, it came to pass that on the morning of Tuesday 14^th April 2015, Sue and Alvin arrived, via a night bus at Perhentian, ready to get started. The schedule was quite straight forwards, two days of 3 dives, conducting 6 of the 10 surveys required, with the final day being completed with the Marine Park staff, except that the Marine Parks had doubled booked, opening the door for us to assist with all 10 surveys (Awesome!)

Sabi, Alvin and Seh Ling doing Invert and Substrate surveys

Alvin getting up close and personal with substrate

Invertebrate Team - Sabi and Seh Ling

Neil seeking Inverts

Sue studying substrate

I won’t bore you with all the details, but let’s just say that with Sue, came bad weather. Day 1 was stormy, rainy and choppy. Day 2 was grey, swelly, choppy and poor visibility. Day 3 was even more choppy, and worse visibility, followed by the 10^th and final dive where Shark Point was calm, good visibility and awesome! Finished on a high.

The surveys, collecting data for Fish populations, Invertebrate populations and substrate type are conducted at sites across Malaysia (and globally) every year, with annual reports written to provide an insight into health of reef ecosystems and a direction of change (getting better or getting worse).

We had a fantastic, though challenging time doing the surveys. Every survey brought a new challenge with direction of swell, visibility, struggling to find the start point, but the importance of the work and enjoyment you can get from contributing to such surveys and work is amazing. We truly enjoyed our few days!

Yellow-margin Moray Eel - spotted at Shark Point 

Black-spotted Moray spotted at Rawa Island

We would like to again thank Sue, Alvin and Reef Check Malaysia for letting us be a part of it all, we had a fantastic time and it was a pleasure to meet people as passionate and dedicated to marine conservation as you. We are already looking forward to next year!

Peace out.

If you would like to participate in Reef Check Surveys, all you need to do is contact your nearest Reef Check headquarters and ask about becoming a Reef Check Eco-Diver. This will allow you to participate in surveys within your region! It opens up a whole new world of interest for divers!

Coral Nursery

As we await the the decision on the permits for coral nursery development and reef monitoring, we have had to establish our other research targets first. However, thanks to the Dept. of Marine Parks, we were lucky enough to be invited to a local MP training event for the construction and deployment of a 3rd generation coral nursery frame.

Thanks to Albert of the Marine Parks for the demonstration and information!

Two identical layers create the nursery frame and are first laid out on the ground ready

The local Marine Park guys had the first crack at putting together the frame

Then, alongside Ecoteer we had a go. We used PVC glue to hold the frames together

The two frames were aligned and legs established

Then glued together to create a sturdy frame for new coral nubbins

The frames stand 2m x 1m and are made of UPVC plastic pipes and held together with PVC glue. A large and solid structure that houses a coral nubbin every 10cm, meaning one nursery tray can be home to 60 individual colonies. Aiming to 10 trays per site means 600 colonies being restored! Amazing

Zip ties were inserted into pre-drilled holes ready for transplanting coral nubbins easily and quickly

The Marine Park team then deployed the frame into the water at Tuna Bay to add to the growing artificial reef/nursery they have there. With them they took some old toothbrushes to clean some of the older frames.

We will soon visit the site to get an idea of what it looks like underwater. A fantastic morning full of educational information. A massive thank you to the Department of Marine Parks for inviting us along to see how it is done. Fingers crossed the permits get approved and we can get our own nursery up and running!

Spring Saving Extravaganza

There comes a time in everybody's life where you just need to get away from it all. Away from everyday life and monotony to experience something new and exotic.

We think that time is Spring. After the long winter (Northern Hemisphere) or coming to the end of a long summer (Southern Hemisphere), chase the dream and join us for our spring savings extravaganza!

If you book onto the project for the months May or June 2015, for a minimum of 2 weeks, you get 5% discount along with a free Blue Temple T-shirt. Not bad really.

For as little as £699 (pre-qualifed divers) you can experience all the joys of the Perhentian Islands with us and participate in all our activities! 

Accommodation, 3 meals a day, snorkeling, up to 8 dives a week, equipment rental, conservation and research training, local cuisine and engagement, awareness campaigns and a FREE Blue Temple T-Shirt.

Join up and get involved in our conservation research and management for the marine parks as well as working with the local and tourist communities to raise awareness on key environmental issue. Participate in survey dives and monitor tourist interactions, sedimentation levels and tourist perceptions towards behavior and environmental risks. Experience Perhentian like never before, join us and contribute to sustainable tourism and management for one of our beautiful but threatened ecosystems!

For information, booking and inquiries get in touch with us via E-mail

*Terms and Conditions: Price displayed for 2 weeks, per person without dive course. Divemaster courses only available for long stay volunteers, minimum 2 week stay.