| Reef Check Eco Diver Course Red Sea Diving Safari | |
|---|---|
 Reef Check Eco Diver Flyer 13th - 16th july 2023 Sign up | In july 2023 another „REEF CHECK Ecodiver Course and surveys will take place at Marsa Shagra / Red Sea Diving Safari. * Take part in reef examinations * Perceive human impacts upon ecosystems * Collect scientific data * Reef Check – Saving reefs worldwide |
The 4-day Eco Diver Course includes:
* UW-Field Guide
* 4 Lectures
* 8 Training dives
* Practise of buoyancy, methodology and species identification skills
* Test
* Reef Check Survey
* Eco Diver Certificate
Requirements
It is required to have good buoyancy skills and a minimum of 30 logged dives.
It is also required that divers are equipped with dive computers
In july 2023 another „REEF CHECK Ecodiver Course and surveys will take place at Marsa Shagra / Red Sea Diving Safari. Since we started our reef monitoring program in 2009, we´re in the eleventh year now. 15 courses have been conducted and 57 Reef Check EcoDivers and 6 EcoDiver Trainers have been certified since then (as of 8/2021).
The 4-day course will be held from 13th – 16th july 2023 at Marsa Shagra, with a Reef Check survey on the last day.
Hereafter, within the time from 17th to 23rd july, there are 4 more surveys around Marsa Shagra and Wadi Lahami on the schedule.
The course is lead by marine biologist and Reef Check Course Director Stephan Moldzio, the course fee is 250€.
Here´s the photo report of our latest Reef Check activities in 2021:
Reef Check Eco Diver Course 2021
About REEF CHECK
Reef Check is the world´s largest international coral reef monitoring organization involving volunteer recreational divers and marine scientists. Reef Check began in 1996 in order to survey the world’s coral reefs using one standardized method so that survey results could be compared wherever they were carried out. Data about the health of coral reefs are essential to face and reverse the decline of the world’s coral reef ecosystems. The Reef Check protocol is focused on the abundance of particular coral reef organisms that best reflect the condition of the ecosystem and that are easy to recognize by the public. The techniques are simple to learn and the data are scientifically robust. Reef Check serves as the first step in attracting participation in coral reef management activities.
For more information about the Reef Check Foundation, please visit
www.reefcheck.org und www.reefcheck.de
The method
For the surveys, a 100m transect line is laid out along the reef and abundances of certain indicator organisms, substrate categories, and human impacts (e.g. anchor damage, fishing lines, rubbish,…) are recorded. Along this line, three buddy teams conduct a fish survey, a substrate survey and an invertebrate / human impact survey, respectively, and record their data on UW slates. The Reef Check indicators are selected to best reflect the health status of a coral reef, especially in view of human impacts, e.g. overfishing, overfertilization, coral damage, waste, etc. For instance the substrate survey and the percentage of coral coverage provide an important measure for this health status. In case of an imbalance within the ecosystem or when overfertilization is a problem, algae may overgrow the corals as well as prevent the recolonization of new coral recruits.
Saving the coral reefs!
In 2009 Red Sea Diving Safari (RSDS) startet a long-term reef monitoring program to help conserve the largely intact reefs in southern Egypt. Since then, Eco-Diver courses have been conducted every year with subsequent Reef Check Surveys on 10 different reefs. The collected data are included in the international, publicly accessible database of Reef Check:http://data.reefcheck.us/
RSDS is an official sponsor of Reef Check and supports the activities with free diving during the course and the surveys. RSDS has been active in reef protection and an environmentally friendly tourism development for a long time. The “Eco-Diving Adventure” includes marine biology workshops, cooperation with environmental organisations and initiatives, introduction of mooring buoy systems, reef cleanups, as well as beach and waste disposal projects.
Reef Check Eco Diver course
Everybody can contribute to Reef Check. The 4-day Eco Diver course includes four presentations, practise of methodology and species identification skills, training dives, tests, an UW field guide and a certificate.
After the course we will conduct at least one complete Reef Check survey along two depth contours and submit our collected data to the international Reef Check database.
As an alternative to the Eco Diver course there is also a half-day “Discover Reef Check” course available. After successful participation of the course you are certified Reef Check Eco Diver. The certification card qualifies the holder to participate in Reef Check surveys in the Indo-Pacific region and to collect scientific data about the status of coral reefs. Many participants felt that their diving and their underwater perception had strongly changed after participation in the course: They learned a lot about fish, corals and invertebrates, coral reef ecology in general and about today´s threats to coral reefs. The course leader is the marine biologist and Reef Check team scientist Stephan Moldzio.
Reef Check Eco Diver Course
This gallery shows pictures of different Reef Check courses and surveys at Red Sea Diving Safari 2009-2017
Reef Check – indicator organisms
This gallery shows the Reef Check indicator groups, which are recorded during the Surveys:
- Fish-survey
- Invertebrate- /human impact survey
- Substrate-survey
Check out our photo reports of our Reef Check activities in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2021, as well as our article “10 years Reef Check reef monitoring at Red Sea Diving Safari” in the magazine unterwasser.
Here you find interviews with Reef Check scientist Stephan Moldzio and Reef Check coordinators Dr. Georg Heiss und Dr. Moshira Hassan