Join Lara and her team on a journey to one of the world's most beautiful coral reefs. Learn how WWF is studying this environment and its role as an indicator of the effects of climate change.
Tuesday, February 27th- Let the Work Begin
Now that we have permission, we visit the reefs to assess their condition. Our study is looking at reefs near intact and healthy mangroves and those in areas where the mangrove have been removed or degraded. Unfortunately there is a very dramatic example of the latter along the Takina Wai coast. A development project is underway that includes a golf course, a series of hotels and an artificial lagoon for water access. This development has resulted in extensive removal of mangrove, and even more dramatically the use of landfill that has buried another healthy coral reef.
The first person on the team swims the length of the survey line making notes with a pencil on waterproof paper about the types of coral and other invertebrates present. We also look for signs of bleaching or other coral reef damage. The second person notes all the fish that are present (number and species).
Since Chris and Jessica are with us we also spend a little time being interviewed while we are in the water, showing them some neat things about the reef and being really quiet so they can tape ambient sounds of the ocean.
It was a bit odd being interviewed while treading water off the side of the boat but it was perhaps even more strange to have four of us (Api, Jennie, Monifa and me) standing in chest-deep water beside the mangroves with Jessica perched on the edge of the boat, microphone in hand. It did however give us a great fish eye view of the mangrove which is something you don't usually get to hang out in and look at while you are doing reef surveys.
