The Transect Project is carried out to survey the
reefs around TOB. The purposes of this project include:- To look for potential sites of other TRACC projects (E.g. the on-going Bottle Reef Project for reef recovery)
- To obtain data of reef condition (Required by the government for marine park establishment)
The project is indeed a tough one considering the
number of factors we need to encompass. First we need to make sure
that the research design is one that can produce accurate data of the
reef condition. This is of course the first and foremost absolute
rule of any scientific survey. Secondly, the device used must be
durable enough to withstand the wear and tear over time, especially
during monsoon season. Since we might be initiating new project on
the surveyed reefs, we need resilient markers that can lead us back
to the desired location in the future. Then, we need to consider the
procedures of our in situ operation.
We doubtlessly have a number of excellent divers and experienced
researchers in the camp, but not everyone has good combined skills
hence close cooperation is the key to work efficiency.
The project has been going on for about a month to
date. We’ve completed data collection of more than half of all
targeted sites despite the obstacles we met: rough sea condition,
lost tools, malfunctioning compressor, terrible visibility, lack of
experienced underwater researcher etc. etc…. I’m genuinely
grateful that we’ve managed to pull things off so far. Pray that
everything will go smooth from this point onwards and we can finish
this project soon ;-)