Chinese School Group at TRACC

TRACC were host to a large Chinese FSXH school group in summer 2016 who came to visit for the first time. There were a total of 16 high school students from China and 4 teachers. Most came to learn how to dive, learn about what TRACC does and be involved in marine conservation. These students had no knowledge of what marine conservation is all about and what TRACC does and so many of the TRACC staff including myself had the opportunity to teach them about the life under the sea.

While most of the dive masters were assisting the instructors with the students’ open water and advanced open water, I had the opportunity to help Tom (the science officer) out with the science education. We gave short classes on coral identification, fish identification and artificial reef. I found teaching and educating these students really exciting. Not only was I learning as I teach, the students were really enthusiastic and wanted to learn more about the marine life. They are constantly asking questions and giving out burst of amazement about the uniqueness of every single species of marine creatures. As soon as we finished our classroom section, we hit the water for some snorkelling and started identifying the types of family fishes. Even though many of the students barely know how to swim and some are terrified of the water, they are still really excited to explore and discover the fishes or corals that they just learned. 

Natalie and Evelyn.

 Thinking back on the memories with the students, I personally felt really inspired by them. One of my favourite memories was teaching a student how to swim. Right from the start, before we head into the water, I could tell Evelyn was scared of drowning but yet she was determined to learn how to swim. In no time, she was swimming like a professional athlete. The best part of this particular experience was not only does Evelyn feel accomplished, I felt equally accomplished as she was.  We constantly high five and hugged each other and there was no other way to describe that feeling of achieving the same goal with another person. It’s amazing how much I have seen her grow from a non-swimmer to an excellent swimmer and diver. This was definitely a one-time experience I would never replace it for the world. The challenges and accomplishment that were faced are those memories I will look back now and appreciate the opportunities that TRACC has given me.

(This blog is written by Natalie Chai)

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Bycatch smells!

The real problem of bycatch is the smell of rotten fish.

The tracc marine science alevel class watched the landing of 137 fish boxes or over 4000 kg of decomposed  bycatch.  These small fish crabs rays should have grown into adults in a sustainable #fisheries instead of being trash destined only for fishmeal at less than 10 cents US$ per kilo.
At kota kinabalu sabah malaysia

Coral identification

The easist corals to study are in the lagoon and
are very shallow at low tide.  However even with the books
and easy access it is hard to identify hard corals to family
and we can identify very few to species.   YET :-)

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Conservation projects 2016

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Marine life identification

Close association by different organisms
is the norm in the ocean. 
These are white ascidians, Tan feather like hydroids
and red sponge.

The marine science A level students have been learning about taxonomy and classification.  From the huge differences between different phyla to the difficulties of identifying marine life to species.  The first practical was to look at rare and unusual marine life so diving gear on, the students jumped into the ocean at the TRACC house reef.


We found no mammals - except the Pilot whale :-)  and the Dolphins,  Plus the cuteist baby shark,  Wow and double wow,


The more unusual marine life yielded a wide range of phyla,  many sponges, ascidians, hydroids, molluscs and crustaceans.  If you don't know what all these are and why they are important parts of the biodiversity then you need this class!!!

Black coral which is actually BARBIE PINK !

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

Ceranth anemone (Phyla Anthozoa)

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Colonial ascidian (Phyla Tunicates)

Gorgonian (phyla Anthozoa)

Worms in calcium tubes. (Phyla

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

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Conservation projects 2016

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marine biology fieldwork -jetty communities

Rocky shore Zonation practical for the Cambridge (CIE 9693) A level Marine science course.  TRACC teach this class once each year from January to April.  The first fieldwork practical of the course was a study of the zonation on the man made wooden jetty on Pom Pom Island, Sabah Malaysia.

The students marked the posts at 50 cm intervals relative to the tidal chart datum (lowest astronomical tide).  The location of the barnacle zone and the snail zone was measured in relation to this fixed chart datum.  The vertical position relative to the tide of all of the visible snails was measured for 7 jetty legs.   Observations were made that the snails were more abundant on the N side legs (shaded by the jetty above) and on the South side legs (not shaded from above) the snails were mostly on the side of the leg away from the sun.

The results showed clear concentration into discrete zones by both barnacles and snails.  The barnacles were concentrated into the zone from 50cm above cd to 90cm above cd with a few on the shady North legs at upto 110cm.
The snails were more abundant on the North legs (average 14 per leg) than on the South Legs (average 5 per leg).  The snails were also found higher up the Shady legs (average position of top snail was 1.7m (N legs) compared with 1.4m (S Legs).  The zonation of the snails is on the kite graph and the snails were most abundant at 1.4m above CD.

It is clear that the snails are actively choosing the shady jetty legs and if they are on the sunny side legs then they find the shadiest spot.  On the shady legs they can also rest between tides higher up the leg presumably because it is cooler.

These results lead to more questions about ecology and behaviour that the A level class will be answering in the near future.

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
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Rocky shore studies

What was that called?

The cambridge marine science a level course taught by TRACC is very heavily based on fieldwork.  We like our students to know what an ecosystem, habitat or niche is because they have studied them closely. 

Update Overall results 2015 are awesome plus Tom Gibson was the best marine science student in the world.

These are a few photos of the rocky shore fieldwork practicals, over a couple of weeks, we looked at dessication, zonation, exposure, home range, habitat plusbiodiversity and adaptations.

Studying the tidal poll inhabitants

Other field trips studied Fisheries, Mangroves, Coasts, plus underwater biodiversity and ecology studies.

The 2016 Marine Science A-level will be running from 18th January - 2nd May (following the Cambridge exam timetable). 

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

Mark release recapture studies were used to learn
about Habitat preferences in intertidal organisms

Close study of microhabitats

Elevation is very important for species
living in the intertidal zone

Marine science fieldwork on Mangroves

Getting up close and personal with mangrove ecosystems

The marine science A level taught by TRACC each year has lots of practicals so students get fieldwork experience in a wide range of ecosystems.

Update Overall results 2015 are awesome plus Tom Gibson was the best marine science student in the world.

These are some of the photos taken during our trips to study mangrove forests.

Other field trips studied Fisheries, Rockyshores, Coasts, plus underwater biodiversity and ecology studies.

Floating quietly around the mangroves we caught glimses
of the biggest herbivore
- the endangered, endemic proboscis monkey

 The 2016 Marine Science A-level will be running from 18th January - 2nd May (following the Cambridge exam timetable). 

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

Serious science looked at biological adaptations
to the environment - these are mangrove seeds
which are producing roots before they leave the tree.

The best way to understand mangroves
is to get up close and personal with the mud

Marine Science A Level Fisheries Fieldwork

Parrot fish from coral reef fisheries

The Marine Science A level class had a lot of fun and learnt a lot by being in the environment during fieldtrips.  The students and staff from TRACC had lots of fun doing many practicals in mangroves, rocky shores and underwater on coral reefs. These are some of the images from the Fisheries fieldwork done by the 2015 Marine Science A level class.

UPDATE

One of our students was the Best #Marine #Science #student in the world. What an honour. Congratulations #TomGibson http://goo.gl/mTx4ge 

Huge diversity of fish species

Liz studying a guitarshark

Sorting a purse seine catch
from left - Liz, Gon, Tom, Matti, Kit and Sonny