*News*

Kosrae Village Ecolodge 10-Year Reef Protection Project
receives Project Aware 2006 Environmental Achievement Award!

This is work that we can't do without your help and it is very gratifying when
organizations like Project Aware recognize the importance of these projects.

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Our 11th Annual Coral Monitoring Project!

Whew! Another successful project session has been completed. Our small but valiant team successfully surveyed six of our permanent monitoring sites, searched for the mooring pins and re-installed the buoys for four moorings that were thought to be permanently lost AND did routine maintenance on 8 other moorings. We were definitely busy for this two week project period!

The data analysis is not yet complete, but we hope to have results to report soon. The data is also being submitted to ReefCheck for inclusion in their international data base.

*More Great News*

o c e a n e a r t h our essential US partner has been granted 501(c)3 status by the US Internal Revenue Service. This means that US participants in our Reef Protection projects may be able to deduct some or all of their expenses relating to the projects, including travel and accommodations. More information about tax deductibility can be found on the o c e a n e a r t h site.

o c e a n e a r t h has assisted with logistical support for the coral monitoring and mooring buoy programs since 1996, their site has a great deal of information on past projects. Dr. Steven Smith provides pre program training and informational materials for the volunteers and, as he is located on the US West coast, is available for telephone questions from the North American volunteers.

Reef Protection Project General Information

• Most of the project work is coral monitoring, but other activities such as maintaining or expanding the mooring buoy system also take place as needed.
• Kosrae Village and our US partner o c e a n e a r t h, a non profit 501(c)3 organization, have an annual two-week project set for September.
• Additional surveys are needed, so if groups of 4 or more are interested in this work we can schedule projects to fit their time frames as long as:
• The project dates are set up in advance with OceanEarth to qualify for tax deductibility.
• We confirm that either Katrina or Dr Smith will be available for the training and to lead the project.
• Two weeks is an ideal length of time to complete a survey project, however it is possible to scale it back to seven to ten days. Anything shorter really isn't feasible. A typical schedule follows:
• Team arrives on a Saturday (if traveling via Honolulu)
• Land based ID and survey technique training on Sunday
• Checkout dives, in-water ID and technique training on Monday
• Survey dives begin on Tuesday and continue for the duration or the project. Breaks are taken on Sunday and other days as necessary.
• We don't expect that everyone will be comfortable with all the survey requirements and techniques by Tuesday, so the volunteers will work with experienced partners until they are ready to work on their own.
• At the end of the project the participants will receive a certificate verifying their participation should it be required by the IRS.

Photos and data collected by previous teams can be found on the o c e a n e a r t h site at http://www.oceanearth.org.
For more information please email me!.