Fish-Net Clean-Up
We have noticed an increased amount of ghost nets, either discarded or snagged on Southwest Pinnacle, prompting another fish net clean up dive. Ghost nets and ghost gear can cause considerable damage to the marine ecosystem. Their weight can crush bottom dwellers, some gear can release toxins over time as it decomposes and they can serve as a platform for invasive species to breed as well as continuously catching fish and crabs.
With three dedicated teams of divers, we set on the massive task, sharing the work load by alternating between divers that are carefully cutting the nets away from the coral and divers that spot and watch from slightly above to ensure the safety of the cutters.
Coral Watch Program
We are also excited to commence surveying coral bleaching on Koh Tao’s reefs, participating in the Coral Watch program. Divemasters will have the slates and brief divers that we will take a few minutes out of each dive to record colour bleaching. This will also be integrated in the Divemaster program at Sairee Cottage Diving, educating DMTs on how to conduct quality surveys and record vital data for this program.
Leopard Shark
To our absolute amazement we were blessed with the sighting of a Leopard Shark this morning! Diving on Koh Tao doesn’t get much better than that right now. It is hard to believe this is what we call work as a Divemaster!
Posted by nic on May 20, 2015 in Marine Conservation | 0 comments