August 21, 2013

Red Sea Diving Safari Completes Summer Reef Check Activities

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By Reef Check EcoDiver Course Director Stephan Moldzio

For the past five years, Red Sea Diving Safari (RSDS) has been participating in Reef Check. In June, Reef Check EcoDiver Course Director, Stephan Moldzio was on site to give various courses and carry out surveys at ten survey sites, each of which are surveyed at two depth contours. The courses and surveys are fun and help guests of RSDS get involved with real life research, which helps to conserve the region for the future.

At the beginning of June, 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 shared the information gathered through Reef Check surveys on local reefs. 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. Stephan is looking forward to a closer collaboration with the Rangers in the future, in order to gather as much data as possible about the health of local reefs.
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In addition, an EcoDiver course was held for six guests from the Czech Republic and Austria, plus Marsa Shagra instructors Cyril and Mohammed Mahdy. All the participants thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and were able to complete full surveys at five of the 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 RSDS‘ Environmental Manager, Sarah O’Gorman on becoming an EcoDiver Trainer. Sarah will now be able to offer Reef Check EcoDiver and Discover Reef Check courses on site to guests. Please contact eco@redsea-divingsafari.com for information on trainings.

You can read more about RSDS‘ Reef Check program at their Eco Effort page and view a collection of photos from the courses on their flickr account.

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EcoDiver training participants EcoDiver Trainer participants Members of the Red Sea Rangers