Our 13th Annual Coral Monitoring Project!

Ok - time to get yourself in gear! The 2009 Coral Monitoring survey period (annual since 1996) will be September 26 - October 10.

With a Saturday arrival, we generally plan on acclimation and jet lag recovery Saturday, land training on Sunday and Monday we DIVE! The Monday dives are check out dives and more hands on training, lots of coral, fish and critter ID as well as how to deploy 20 meter tapes underwater! We will start our working dives on Tuesday.

Generally, we have enough time so that we can do one working dive and one fun dive each diving day (Shhh, don't tell anyone) - as far as they are concerned you are slaving away - in 150+ foot vis, in 84 f. degree water, with turtles, barracuda, rare tropicals and rainbow runners dancing around you. maybe some mermaids....

Sigh - it's a rough life...

On the (more) serious side, the collected data will be submitted to the Kosrae Island Resource Management Agency (a State agency) for their use in managing the essential reef resource and to Reef Check for inclusion in the International Coral Reef Data Base. Generally the KIRMA staff and staff from the Kosrae Conservation and Safety Organization, our local conservation NGO, who are highly trained local scientists, will work and dive with us.

In case you are wonders, yes our data is put to good use. Coral Monitoring data was used as the basis for declaring the Bumphead Parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) or "komokut" as it is known locally, a protected species in Kosraean waters.

What do you need to know in order to join the survey team?? You must be dive certified. Good buoyancy is needed too, if you are feeling a little shaky we'll help you work on your skills. We'll teach you the rest! . If you are not nitrox certified, we have a nitrox orientation class that will allow you to use nitrox while diving with us, the orientation is provided at no cost to the volunteers.

So - JOIN US! Dive, have fun, learn something AND make a contribution to the continuing health of our ocean.

OceanEarth a 501(c)3 corporation, is an essential partner for our Reef Protection Projects. Assisting 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 the 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.

The monitoring team members are all self funded. The 2009 on island costs are being subsidized by Kosrae Village so we can offer volunteers a package price of $1850 per person which includes 13 nights lodging lodging while on Kosrae, Kosrae State lodging taxes, the $50. project fee, nitrox and all other diving related expenses.

If you have questions please email me!. Photos and data collected by previous teams on the OceanEarth site at http://www.oceanearth.org.

Also, Rob LaGrone's great Jetsetter article on the 2005 Coral Monitoring project is posted here.

See you in September!
Katrina