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Workshop Participants snorkel and read the Coral ID Finder book underwater.
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The Coral Identification Capacity Building Programme (CICBP) in collaboration with the Fiji Locally Marine Managed Area (FLMMA) network, and the Institute of Applied Sciences (IAS) of the University of the South Pacific (USP), recently hosted a Coral Identification Workshop at the School of Islands and Oceans, Marine Studies at USP.
The workshop was conducted in two categories; the Beginner Programme, which was held from the 2nd to the 5th of February, and the Intermediate and Advanced Programme from the 8th to the 11th of February. The training aimed to:
• identify corals to genus regardless of growth form
• Understand the basic principles of species level identification
• Apply these skills to resource monitoring
CICBP facilitator Lyndon De Vantier said, “We are here in Fiji to demonstrate a new tool called the ‘Coral Finder’ which is a 29-page book that you can take underwater. We’re trying to see if it works really well in helping people identify corals, so that the people here who are studying and monitoring coral reefs, or are trying to develop marine protected areas or Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs), understand how to identify them”. He added, “Obviously Fiji is very much dependent on its marine resources; the coral reef is a major player in that, so what we want to do is to empower people to be able to understand, what is going on in their reefs. Are the corals doing well? Are they growing consistently? Are they being disturbed by pollution or by high sea temperatures or by predator outbreaks? And a key foundation to answering these questions is first of all, being able to correctly identify corals to at least genus level”.
Overall, a total of 51 participants were registered for both workshops, which included Government, Non-Government organizations, and academic institutions such as the Fiji National University and the University of the South pacific, the United States Peace Corp and commercial dive operators such as Reef Safari.
2010 has been declared by the United Nations as the “International Year of Biodiversity” (see http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/) where Fiji is taking the lead in the world, in marine biodiversity conservation, which covers the variety of living things all around us, their families, and the various habitats or places they live; this includes maintaining our marine areas through avoiding littering and polluting the ocean, respecting marine areas that indicate ‘Tabu’, as fish, shellfish and habitat are being restocked and protected to repopulate or rejuvenate.
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