Horse Shoe Crab Release

A short stop in Lahad Datu for breakfast around 6am today turned into another Marine-life Rescue Mission for TRACC. Two Pala'u ladies arrived at the morning market with 3 horseshoe crabs. Both of them hardly speak any Malay so couldn't find out the exact location where they caught these pre-historic looking creatures. 

Anyway, bought all 3 horseshoe crabs and took them to Pom Pom island. I personally have only seen one here last year but we have seen many small ones in Kulapuan. Hope the release of one big female and two smaller males will bring back the population of horseshoe crabs around Pom Pom island. Our staff and volunteers were so excited to have this rare opportunity to handle these living fossils and releasing them back into the sea! - Gon

Horseshoe crabs are easy to catch and are often found in the fish market. They don't have any "meat" to speak of and taste a bit like fresh seaweed (salty, rubbery, cold and disgusting).

Horseshoe Crabs are often called "living fossils". The earliest record of them is in the Ordovician period 450,000,000 years old and they haven't changed much since.

They're more closely related to spiders than crabs but have 10 legs rather than 8 and external gills like a prawn.

They also have a peculiar number of "eyes". There are two compound eyes where you might expect them to be, but then there are five additional "eyes" that have different resolutions and functions - two of them respond to visible light and three to ultraviolet. There are also light receptors along the tail that helps the Horseshoe synchronize its body clock with light and day. Finally, there are two ventral (on the underside) eyes near its mouth.

A-Level All Stars 2016

The Classroom 

Only A*, A’s and B’s for the 2016 A-level class of TRACC! The many hours spent learning and teaching inside the stilted and turtle adorned classroom, studying on the jetty, the hammocks, number 4, and wherever else the class could find a quiet spot and a moment to resist the lure of the ocean has paid off.

The scores are awesome, but more so is the knowledge the class gleaned and shared. Simply by cohabiting the camp with an emphasis and atmosphere of learning and teaching, and plentiful knowledgeable people, the whole camp

Ocean Acidification Experiment
with Sophie and Basil 

became a little more tuned to the science of the ocean.

Congratulations all you fantastic A-levelers – Christine, Sophia, Peng, Sophie, Graeme, Basil, Oliver, and Tom Tom! And to all the wonderful teachers that helped them along – Tom, Steve, and Hazel!

For more info on the course please email info@tracc-borneo.org or visit the the website! 

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity please check out our website tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

For updates check out our facebook, twitter or Google +

Reef conservation would not be possible without the generous financial support from GEF/SPG for Malaysia who are helping our community activities, and coralreefcare.com who generously provide materials to build more reefs.   

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow our projects on facebook

Dive Instructor Vacancy

Tracc has a vacancy for a scuba instructor starting immediately.

We're a small, volunteer organisation that are restoring the reef around Pom Pom island in the Celebes Sea, off the East coast of Malaysian Borneo. See the Map.

We need our divers to be well trained; peak performance buoyancy is an integral part of everyone's open water course, because novice divers crash landing on our beautifully planted coral is just not an option. But, we don't have many students, just four or five a week, and we allow you two weeks per course so that you have plenty of time to do the job properly.

All this time means that there's plenty of opportunity for you to take part in the science and conservation aspect of the project too. Some of the diving we do is, well, unique....

For all the details, please send an e-mail to info@tracc-borneo.org 

or call Hazel on (+6) 019 8505412

Social Media Internships

Could you be this girl? Taking fifty shots to get the perfect sunset? Or this one? Lounging in a hammock while you upload some video you took on this morning's diving? Tracc has a vacancy for a social media intern.

We're offering a qualified diver a 12 week stay, and all the diving you can do for just £625 (US$830) and some social media maintenance.  If you're not a diver we can teach you at cost.

We don't need professional photographers, videographers or journalists, although if you are one, you're more than welcome to apply! 

Just someone who can point and shoot and capture what it is we do with enthusiasm.

As our SM Intern you will:

• Write a blog on your experiences at least once a week.
• Post to Facebook and Instagram daily.
• Twitter about our science, conservation and diving.
• Curate the multitude of photos our volunteers take and maintain the photo database.

To apply, please write a 500 word blog post on anything you like, attach a couple of your best happy-snaps and e-mail them to info@tracc-borneo.org

Sunday Funday Backflips

It's not all work and no play! Sometimes Sunday-Funday means pleasure diving in new places. Sometimes it means doing backflips off the boat.



Sometimes it means making fun little videos.


Please wait for the video to load to check it out!

   

If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Big Fish Surveys

I have been a volunteer and science intern at TRACC for just over two months and the journey has been amazing. The work and effort that TRACC has put into conserving and rehabilitating the marine creatures has shown a significant difference since they first started. There are many conservation projects that TRACC does but one of my favourites is the large fish survey. 

Plectropomus are indicative of healthy reef.

The very first large fish survey was done in 2011 when TRACC first arrived on Pom Pom Island and the fish are still being surveyed and added as data. The reason for this is because we want to know if the coral restoration and artificial reefs are attracting fishes. According to the data, there has been a drastic increase in the number of large fishes since 2011.

Before my first large fish survey, Tom, the senior science officer, made sure that we knew how to identify the large fish families such as sharks, rays, triggerfish, groupers, sweetlips etc. As soon as we'd gone through the fish identification, we jumped into the water right away. On that very first fish survey dive, I had trouble identifying all the different types of large fishes but Tom guided and made sure I improved at identifying the large fishes. Thanks to him, by the time I'd done 3 fish surveys, I felt like a pro! Now, after weeks of surveying, I am taking over and leading the fish survey with new volunteers that are in TRACC.

I personally think that a fish survey is like a treasure hunt. Every large fish that we find is like finding gold! And stingrays are like finding platinum! One of my favourite fish surveys was when we saw three eagle rays in one survey and one of them swam right over our heads. That was one of the best dives I've ever had; not just to see an eagle ray but also to see it swimming so close.

Bolbometopon also need healthy coral

Another great fish survey experience was when I saw my first bumphead parrotfish. Those parrotfishes were about a meter long and had teeth that were so big they looked like they were wearing hockey gum guards. They seemed intimidating but they are one of the gentlest creatures I've ever met. During my survey, 13 of them parrotfishes were eating in a land full of corals. Somehow they really reminded me of a herd of cows.

These are only some of the many things I've experienced during my science internship and I'm only just beginning. Through diving and fish surveying, the ocean never fails to surprise me. I am learning new things about the ocean everyday and there is never a dull moment. I am definitely looking forward to getting on with the next fish survey and I will be sure to go in to the water with an expectant heart, knowing that in every fish survey that I do, I will be in awe.

Natalie surveying for big-fish at TRACC

If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Fantastic 2016 marine science A level results.

Tracc are very proud to announce our 2016 A-level results! 3 A*, 2 A and 3 B!! All our candidates worked exceptionally hard and should be very pleased with themselves. We certainly are. Well Done Everyone!!
 
 More info on the course and how we have achieved amazing results for several years. 

marine-science-course-a-level-9693

Photos of  the practical classes,
 

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please 
check our website http://tracc.org or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

For more updates on TRACC check out our Facebook, Twitter or Google +

More Marine conservation projects

Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from

GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.

If visits to Tracc are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.

Island Life Part 3 - What I've learned at TRACC

Underwater Construction

It’s been two and a half weeks since I first arrived at Pom Pom Island and the Everest of a learning curve I experienced in my first week has gradually leveled to that of a steadier linear climb up some Chocolate Hills.

I have learned – The underwater signs for nudibranch, grouper, mating, scorpion fish, and crocodile fish. How to make a hammock. The interesting and fantastically strange and beautiful anatomy of the nudibranch, with fluffy gills, spiky cerata, horn like rhinophores, and in some, a special ability to be “solar powered”. There are two distinct populations of Bajau people, land and sea, and that the sea Bajau make a yearly offering to the spirits of the sea through sending a boatful of land goodies down the river. Many words of Bahasa Malay including gila (crazy), ayo (oh my god - used as a general exclamation), and nakal (naughty). How to use a lift bag to move bottle reefs and crates of collected  

The Blue Dragon nudibranch
Photo by Basil Bohn

coral underwater. That planting coral and tending to artificial reefs is a bit like gardening, but you must plant coral with space in between the species so energy is not expended fighting, but growing. The basics of regulator servicing. How the local whiskey sneaks up to give you a bangin’ hangover. How to sit on the Flying Fish, the TRACC boat, a bit on the tip toes to protect the bum from the sometimes harsh motion of the waves. That although much of the coral is reduced to rubble, there are signs of regeneration everywhere throughout the artificial reef and surrounding area. How to mix cement and hammer underwater. Turtle eggs are surprisingly heavy for their size. A week of care and food can do wonders for a malnourished kitten. How to be a real life Baywatch character through the rescue diving course. There are 3 types of seagrass on the house reef and 1717 know types of seacucumbers in the ocean, some of which have teeth in their anus, and sometimes pearlfish live inside them. How fun and enriching it is to be in a place where everyone is passionate about the ocean in one facet or another. That simple living promotes freedom of time and mind. How small tropical fish will come to explore a freshly planted bottle reef within about 5 minutes.  That even those with 100’s of dives, that dive 6 days a week, are still easily excited and happy to dive everyday. That everyone has a story to tell and a bit of awesome strangeness inside of him or her. And that the life I was living three weeks ago seems like a dream light years away and eons ago.

A Storm Brewing in the Sunset

With such a wide world of ocean, practical skills and experience, and people to know and learn about, I don’t expect my slope of a learning curve will ever accumulate in descent.


Previous blogs Island life 1  -- Island life 2 -- More from Lark

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If you want to help with any marine conservation activity, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc.org
Check out our posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
on twitter tracc_borneo
on google + tracc

or simply #tracc or #traccblog on Google, Facebook, twitter or instagram

How to do a Beach transect

line the tops of two poles with the horizon

Beach transects were the marine science fieldwork practical today.  Of course, a quick study of the tide tables showed that the new moon low tide (spring tides) was in the middle of the day.  At the equator, (TRACC is at 4 Deg N), the big tides each month are always high at dawn and dusk and low at midnight and midday.

Equipped with sunscreen and carefully marked survey poles the intrepid Marine Science A level class braved the short walk to our beautiful white sand beach.

The techniques is simple, from the low tide line the beach slope and elevation is measured at 20 cm intervals. The height of the water at the time of low tide is known from the tide tables. The longer survey pole is held at the low tide line and the shorter pole moved up the beach until looking across the top of both poles lines up with the horizon.  When the two pole tops and the horizon are aligned then the short pole is 20 cm higher up the beach than the long pole.  We measured the distance between the bottoms of the poles to give a measure of beach slope.

We repeated the process, by moving the big bottom pole to the position of the top pole and then repeating the leveling by moving the top pole another 20 cm vertically up the beach.














The beach slope was fairly constant at 1in 7 or approximately 12 degrees.  With a giant yellow protractor we checked this.angle.

 With a practiced technique we are now ready to tackle beaches with varying slopes, sediment types and biological communities.

More blogs on Marine science class 2016
More info on the Cambridge Marine science A level class

Become a volunteer in 2016 here

Conservation projects 2016

For more information, please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org 

The main website is at tracc.org
Check out our social media posts on our activities
on fb tracc.borneo
on twitter tracc_borneo
on google + tracc 
Instagram  traccborneo