Methods in tropical reefs monitoring

Coral Eye (https://www.coral-eye.com) is a unique Boutique Resort on Bangka Island, North Sulawesi in Indonesia. Originally founded as an outpost for marine studies, today Coral Eye Bangka is a melting pot of passionate travellers, dive enthusiasts, underwater photographers, and marine biologists. Coral Eye was designed to place the guest at the centre of the space, creating a unique environment that favours socialisation and communication between people united by a common passion for the sea.
The project came to life in 2009, as four young marine biologists decided to pursue their dreams & passions and set up a marine outpost on Bangka Island, North Sulawesi - Indonesia, right in the heart of the Coral Triangle. The original idea was to create a co-working outpost where universities and students could exchange ideas and develop their projects on tropical marine environments. In 2013, following the construction of the diving centre and lots of hard work, Coral Eye opened its doors to tourism as an alternative to mix science with passion and love for the sea. Through the new concept we were able to finance environmental projects, offer scholarships to students and better support local communities.
In 2022 Coral Eye joins forces with the Siladen Resort and Spa to form a new partnership and elevate the resort to a new level of comfort for guests. While keeping the original community spirit of Coral Eye and the characteristics that have distinguished it from other resorts since its founding, the new partnership adds a touch of luxury with 7 new private beach view villas and an upgrade of the existing rooms and general guest services.

The Reef Check EcoDiver program allows anyone with an interest in the ocean to learn more about tropical coral reefs. Reef Check combines education with action to give volunteers a unique experience while taking an active role in conserving the world's reefs. The EcoDiver program allows participants the rare opportunity to work with teams of scientists throughout the world to combat the crises affecting our reefs today. The world's reefs are changing fast, and it is up to us to ensure that reefs are around for future generations. Using the globally standardised scientific protocol, the Reef Check EcoDiver program collects valuable data to establish the status of coral reefs world-wide. The data are analysed and used locally by marine park managers, nationally by fisheries and environment managers and internationally by organisations including United Nations agencies to help better track and care for coral reefs.
Become certified to conduct your Reef Check surveys and take an active role in conserving your favourite coral reefs. This course is designed to teach you everything you need to know to conduct full-scale Reef Check surveys. In this program, you will learn all about the globally standardised Reef Check methodology as well as how to identify key indicator fish, invertebrates and substrates selected by Reef Check for global monitoring and conservation of coral reefs! This course will allow you to join the Reef Check monitoring team and assist in underwater surveys around the world.

Methods include substrate, fish and invertebrate transects coupled with a socio-economic survey.
Materials: Reef Check EcoDiver Kit for Indo-Pacific, including data board.
Testing and Certification: PowerPoint ID test (80% to pass) and field ID test (90%) to obtain regional certification. Certification qualifies the holder to participate in Reef Check surveys in the region and to submit their data to the global database.

More info: http://reefcheck.org/ecodiver/about-ecodiver/

CoralWatch is a citizen science project based at The University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. CoralWatch helps non-scientists around the globe understand and support effective reef management by using engaging tools that provide people with accessible information and hands-on-experience collecting scientific data about the health of corals using the Coral Health Chart. This chart standardises changes in coral colours and provides a simple way for people to quantify coral health and contribute to the CoralWatch global database. The Coral Health Chart is used by dive centres, scientists, school groups, and tourists.

Materials: an underwater kit with Coral Health Chart and data board.

More info: http://www.coralwatch.org

An underwater book to learn how identify hard corals and discover the huge species diversity in a coral reef. The answer to the question “What coral is that?” is in your head – literally. Your eyes and brain are the world’s most powerful supercomputer capable of solving complex visual problems instantly. Traditional field guides put text between you and the answer – and text needs to be interpreted. The Coral Finder reduces the problem of identifying corals to a series of simple visual choices. The Coral Finder makes coral identification practical and easy by using WYSIWYLF –
What You See Is What You Look For! Instead of memorising thousands of images and names in your head you just look up the shape and the Coral Finder gives you a simple matrix of best bets to choose from. Simple – just the way we like it. The Coral Finder creates a choice matrix for easy, at-a-glance decision making.

Materials: underwater book.

More info: http://www.byoguides.com/

Prof. Massimo Ponti, benthic ecologist at the University of Bologna

Massimo is a marine ecologist, associate professor, and Director of the MSc in Marine Biology at the University of Bologna (Italy), president of the Italian association of scientific divers, diving master instructor and vice-president of the Reef Check Italy no-profit association. His research experiences range from temperate to tropical benthic ecology, mainly focusing on species diversity, habitat-species interactions, human disturbances, global climate change, marine protected areas, and biodiversity conservation.

Dr. Gianfranco Rossi, marine biologist and Reef Check Tropical Trainer

Franco is graduated in Marine Biology with a thesis on "The involvement of Recreational Scuba divers in the Monitoring of Coastal Environment". Scuba Instructor. Author of the book "Corals - A guide to the identification of the main genera of coral reef builders of the Indo-Pacific Region" and founder of the "Coral Eye Museum" a collection of hard corals from Coral Triangle. He holds seminars on Scleractinians ID (Coral Reef Builders) at the Polytechnic University of Marche (Italy). He is also expert in coral killing sponges. He is member of the steering board Reef Check Italy no-profit association.

Dr. Eva Turicchia, benthic ecologist at University of Bologna and environmental educator

Eva is a benthic marine ecologist, assistant professor at the University of Bologna, Italy. She is a diving instructor and board member of both the Italian Association of Scientific Divers and the non-profit Reef Check Italy. His research experiences range from temperate to tropical benthic ecology, primarily focusing on marine biodiversity conservation, biotic indices, marine citizen science, and the effects of human disturbances and climate change at community and population levels. She deals with sustainable marine tourism, ecological shifts associated with the mass mortality events trigger by marine heat waves, bioconstruction/bioerosion processes in coralligenous habitats and the development of innovative approaches for studying and monitoring coastal marine habitats.

Dr. Marco Segre Reinach, marine biologist and CORAL EYE manager

Marco has a degree in marine biology and oceanography. He developed a direct knowledge of the marine environment while sailing and diving for many years around the world, as crew of regatta and cruises boats. In 2009 after three years around Indonesia, Marco joined up the team, managing the start- up of Coral Eye outpost and after many years he still here...