Reef Check Update - July

HODGSON GREGOR reefchck at uxmail.ust.hk
Tue Jul 8 01:04:44 EDT 1997


Reef Check Update - July 1997

Our July update has been delayed while we enjoyed the Hong Kong 
Handover festivities.

Reef Check 1997 is well under way! The official kick-off organised by
Carl Stepath of SOS took place in Kaua'i on June 14, and was well 
attended by scientists, celebrities, media and the interested public. 
Thank you Carl! Reef Check teams now number about 150. We have 
hired Cheung King Tai to assist with data management and analysis 
at Headquarters. Teams which have completed surveys are reminded to 
send us the completed Excel data sheets ASAP and not more than 
10 days after returning from the field.

The Web site (http://www.ust. /~webrc/reef.html) is regularly being 
updated with last-minute registrations. Check out our photo page - 
"Faces and Places - Reef Check '97" that shows some of our team 
members. Please send us some pictures of your teams. Then we can all 
put faces to names!!

****** INDONESIA ******
The Indonesian Ministry of Environment has launched Reef Check in
the Marine National Karimunjawa on June 18, 1997. The first survey
was conducted by 8 volunteers from the University of Diponegore, WWF 
Indonesia Programme, IPB, and Sea World. This event was covered by
3 TV stations (RCTI, INDOSIAR and the NHK from Japan), and 3 printed 
media. The next reef check will be conducted in Marine National Park 
Pulau Seribu, (26-29 June), Pulau Derawan (Kalimantan, 7-12 July), 
Taka Bonerate south Sulawesi (15-19 July).
Gayatri Lilley <Glilley at wwfnet.org>  Fax: 62-21-739-5907

WWF Bali (Ketut & staff) is planning to organize and conduct Reef Check
surveys at many sites from 20-24 August 1997. As you may already be aware, 
some Bali's reefs are over-used (the most intensive use for dive-tourism) 
and there are also many sites that are used less intensively. Therefore, we 
expect to have at least three good Reef Check sites that represent three levels 
of use (very seldom, medium and most intensive use reefs); and this will enable 
us to see the different impacts of marine tourism on coral reef ecosystems.
Ketut Sarjana Putra <wwf-bali at denpasar.wasantara.net.id>  
Fax: 62-361-242405

******  BRUNEI ******
Reef Check now has a team in Brunei!
We have the support of the Brunei Museum Research Division, the Ministry 
of Fisheries and the Universiti of Brunei Darussalam to register with IYOR 
Reef Check. Highly qualified scientific researchers and natural historians 
from these institutions will serve as the organizing and coordinating committee 
for Reef Check Brunei. We intend to provide a survey from several reefs in 
Brunei waters as well as a number of unsurveyed reefs. These surveys are planned 
for the end of July and August.  
Paul Crevello  <crevello at ubd.edu.bn>  Fax: +673-2-249 502			

****** COLOMBIA ******
Our sites in the Marine Park Corales del Rosario can be confirmed, and will 
be surveyed in August. The most effort has come from students of the 
University Javeriana, I as a professor talking and coordinating with scuba 
divers. Before I came here I left television interviews prepared to come out 
in national television programs.  
Nohora Galvis <ngalvis at javercol.javeriana.edu.co>

****** HAWAII ******
The Second Annual Clean Oceans Conference was a great success.  
This year's Conference was dedicated to the preservation of coral reefs.  
Robert Kennedy, Jr. was the keynote speaker, with the Governor of 
Hawaii, Mr. Ben Cayetano, in attendance. The Mayor of Honolulu, Mr. 
Jeremy Harris, and Mayor Kusaka from Kauai also attended, as well as Mr. 
Mike Wilson, chairman of the State Department of Land and Natural 
Resources. They were joined by many coral reef experts who presented 
lectures, Reef Check, and a coral reef monitoring workshop. This is the 
only conference in Hawaii focusing exclusively on coral reef protection 
and celebrating Oceans Day. For videos of RFK, Jr.'s speech please 
contact Save Our Seas at http://planet-hawaii.com/sos/.
Carl Stepath <sos at aloha.net>  Fax: (808) 826-7770

****** BARBADOS ******
Regrettably our youth group must withdraw from Reef Check 1997.  We 
are still short funds to pay for our trip to Barbados to do the survey. The 
students have worked very hard over the last few months fundraising, 
unfortunately it was not enough. Even though we will not be going to 
Barbados we will continue with our coral reef awareness program for 1997. 
We will continue to watch the progress of the project and wish all the
participants every success.
Caroline Belgrave <cbelgrav at direct.ca>

****** AMERICAN SAMOA ******
Mike Page, from the Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources in 
Pago Pago, has registered a team to survey the reefs in Fagatele Bay,
American Samoa in early July.  
Mike Page <dmwr at samoatelco.com>  Fax: (684) 633-5944

****** BAHRAIN ******
Roger Uwate from the Directorate of Fisheries in Bahrain has registered 
a team for Reef Check, incorporating independent sports divers and divers 
from the Bahrain Diving Committee. The sites to be surveyed at the end 
of July to the beginning of August are Fasht Al Adhom reef and Abul Thalma.
Roger Uwate <rogeru at batelco.com.bh>  Fax: (973) 728-459

****** ISRAEL ******
The date has been set for July 28 as our kick-off.  The activities will
include a pre-dive planning day of briefings, and familiarizing everyone
with the goals of the survey, species identification and the checking of
equipment and dive site.  And this will be followed by the survey of the
dive sites in Eilat.  The dive sites will be at the Coral Garden Nature
Reserve, and possibly at a more heavily frequented site, in order to
compare the impact of divers.

We have been very excited to see how this project has grown, with people
from abroad coming for the survey, and a collection of slides, and species
identification cards are being laminated to help eveyone become more
familiar with Red Sea fish and invertebrates.  The Nature Reserve Authority
has been contacted and will be helping on the pre-dive breifings, in
addition to PhD's who will be lecturing on the marine sciences.  We will be
conducting all of our survey work in Eilat only, so as to keep the results
of the survey comparable to those of the separate Reef Check groups
surveying in Sinai.
Joe Breman <jbreman at study.haifa.ac.il>  Fax: 011-972-4-824-0391

****** PANAMA ******
On the 18th and 25th June, seminars were held at the Smithsonian
Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Seminars covered the objectives
of Reefcheck 97 and methodologies to be used in the project. 

On 29th of June, 24 divers from Fundacion Oceanica and PROMAR 
participated in RC '97 in Panama. Angel Tribaldos, Adolfo Trute and Peter
Collinson were the organisers.  Groups surveyed Drake Island, in the
Caribbean,  about 2km from Portobelo town. Permanent transects were
established, RC 97 protocol conducted and belt transects videoed on a
digital camera. This video was  transfered to Beta format and archived.
Media coverage from  the event  included the BBC World Service Radio
and  local television stations, RPC and Canal Once. Press features and
photographs will be circulated to local newspapers in early July. 

In July we aim to survey Buenaventura Reef near Portobelo. This will
occur under the supervision of Angel Tribaldos and Adolfo Trute, as
Peter Collinson will be leaving Panama.
Peter Collinson <collisop at naos.si.edu>  Fax: (507) 228-0516

****** HONG KONG ******
Hong Kong Reef Check officially kicks off on July 12 with a survey of the
fringing reefs of the Ninepins Islands. VIP's and media representatives have 
been invited to come along and watch the Reef Check teams survey their 
first site.  Marc Smith-Evans <marcse at asiaonline.net>  Fax: (852) 2546-2659

****** AUSTRALIA ******
Reef Check is very pleased to welcome a series of GBR teams led by Andrew 
Dunstan and GBRMPA's David Wachenfeld as part of regular Undersea 
Explorer expeditions. Operating from Port Douglas, North Queensland, they 
will be surveying reefs of the Great Barrier Reef in early August.
Andrew Dunstan <adunstan at ozemail.com.au>  Fax: 61 (70) 99-5914

****** JAPAN ******
WWF Japan is organising Reef Check 97. Jack Moyer of Miyaki-Jima has 
volunteered to lead one team. Two more teams in Japan have recently registered 
for Reef Check. The sites to be surveyed include the Izu Islands and Ishigaki 
Island, Okinawa.
Hideo Yamamoto <88982415 at people.or.jp>  Fax: 04994-6-0458
Tetsuo Itou < nature at din.or.jp>  Fax: 81-45-863-0142
Mariko Abe <1004776.1444 at compuserve.com>  Fax: 81-3-3769-1717

****** PALAU ******
Lori Bell-Colin from the Coral Reef Research Foundation has organised a team 
to survey various sites around Koror in July as part of the Reef Check project.
Lori Bell-Colin <crrf at palaunet.com>  Fax: 680-488-5513

***************************************************************
We apologize for any errors or omissions of  news about your site. Please send 
us a brief report on work accomplished in July and planned for August by 
1 August for inclusion in the August update. To join Reef Check, please contact 
your nearest National or Regional Coordinator listed on the web site, or Reef 
Check Headquarters as soon as possible.


Suzie Geermans, Assistant Reef Check Coordinator
Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development
Research Centre, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Clearwater Bay, Kowloon, HONG KONG
Tel: (852) 2358-6906  Fax: (852) 2358-1582
e-mail: reefchck at uxmail.ust.hk  Reef Check: http://www.ust.hk/~webrc/reef.html



More information about the Coral-list-old mailing list