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 !

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 

Ceranth anemone (Phyla Anthozoa)

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Colonial ascidian (Phyla Tunicates)

Gorgonian (phyla Anthozoa)

Worms in calcium tubes. (Phyla

Successful coral growth in 2015

Bottle reefs with healthy growing acropora coral on a barren
reef crest areas

 At the end of 2015, it is very gratifying to look back at the corals we planted this year.  The reefs all over Pom Pom island are looking awesome, with healthy coral, lots of fish and amazing biodiversity.

Stylophora colonies  growing on bottle reef,

The house reef is where we concentrated lots of effort this year,  We need the reef to grow, interlock and become a wave break to stop beach erosion during the summer storms.  If the beach erodes it affects turtle nesting and we don't want that.

We know that sea level is rising and stoms are becoming stronger so repairing the damage done to the reef by blast fishing makes lots of sense.  A healthy reef is wave and storm resistant and grows dense coral which causes the waves to break before they reach the sand beach.

Our ribbon reef is growing and has lots of healthy acropora coral which is interlocking to stabilise both the coral and the skeleton bottle reefs.  Fingers crossed that the growth will be strong enough to resist the SW monsoon storms next year.

Thanks to all the great volunteers who created some fantastic reefs in 2015.

 Become a volunteer in 2016 here

Branching staghorn coral growing around a bottle reef

Conservation activites

Fish population growth     Video
Rescued sharks
Turtle volunteer surveys

Conservation projects 2016

More about our reefs

Reef restoration
Coral nursery
Step reefs on the slope
Soft coral nets. 

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





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Check out our posts on our activities
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Thanks to our sponsors #GEF #sgp (the small grants programme of the GEF), as well as Ocean planet #oceanplanet and Coral care #coralcare

This work is a team effort so thanks to all our staff and volunteers.

Successful marine conservation by coral biscuit culture

A coral biscuit with new coral tissue
spreading across the cement block.

We have been diving on the ribbon reef coral nursery doing essiential maintenance. TRACC has just moved back to Pom Pom island after a one year absence and while there were no volunteers, the nursery was disturbed by the fish. The staff we retained for the SGP/GEF project were busy building step and bottle reefs on land but with no diving gear they could not do the underwater work.

The corals fragments were planted last year in wet cement to create coral biscuits. The biscuit process takes place on land, wet cement is placed in small plastic pots and finger sized pieces of coral are stuck in the cement. The pot and coral is placed underwater where the cement sets, after 24h the plastic pots are removed and the finished biscuits are placed in the nursery to grow. Unfortunately the biscuits are not heavy enough to stop them being moved by fish. The fish are attracted to the crabs and worms that hide under the biscuits, Rockmover wrasse are theworst culprits. These are really crafty fish, you can see them at work on most of the rubble areas of the island. They appear to work in pairs and take it in turns to pick up a piece of loose coral. One fish lifts the coral and moves it while the other grabs the crab or other tasty morsel which was hidden underneath. Pretty clever fish, they take it in turns so each fish gets a share of the food.

Two very similar coral species competing for space
on the same block.  The new coral tissue has
spread from the original massive coral across the block.

Anyway, the rockmover wrasse and the triggerfish move the coral biscuits in the nursery and they drop blocks on top of other corals and even turn the blocks over. Our job as volunteer divers is to sort out the mess of blocks and turn the coral biscuits back the right way. Fortunately, coral is pretty resilient, provided the coral was not buried in sand, they continue to survive even upside down. The coral doesn't get much light when upside down so growth is really slow. Our job at TRACC is to promote reef growth for marine conservation so we spent several days this week turning all the corals back over so they are the right way up.and can grow quickly.

The growth of the biscuits which remained the right way up, has been amazing and is a great example of sucessful reef regeration. If you look at the pictures you can see the coral tissue spreaing across the blocks, the corals in this post are all massive corals which are supposed to grow really slowly. (i will write another article about the branching corals) The original fragment can be seen in the middle of the block and then the coral tissue has spread across the biscuit and in some cases gone over the edges and down the sides. The coral obviousy uses the free space on the biscuit and spreads as rapidly as possible.

It has been a great experience working on marine conservation with TRACC and I would like to thank my instructor and all my gap year and volunteer buddies. It has been a blast, and i hope to come back to see my corals when they have been moved out of the nursery and onto the ribbon reefs and Step reefs.

You may also want to read about our coral planting for world ocean day or our   Coral Planting Exhibition 31 May 2015
Growth of the branching corals in the coral nursery. 
Making coral biscuits 
Making bottle reefs 
 Step reefs
Crate reefs
Shark cave reefs
Igloo reefs construction  -- Underwater assembly  -- Fishlife

More blogs about TRACC marine conservation centre

For more information, about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

 
please check our website or e-mail info@tracc-borneo.org

The main website is at http://tracc-borneo.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

 

Exceptional diving with barracuda school on Pom Pom Island

School of Barracuda at Magic Rocks,
Pom Pom Island

The School of Barracuda at Magic Rocks, were just amazing,
The diving on Pom Pom Island over the past few weeks has been exceptional, with every single dive being a stand out. The marine biodiversity is truly amazing and the variety of diving that can be done here needs a solid mention as well.
Yeah man! 
It's gotten so much better here! 
Maori Wrasse and Giant groupers are around, saw an eagle Ray yesterday as well. 

Steve thinks the Mauri wrasse are the ones that TRACC rescued from fishermen in 2013 & 2014.
 
And then the macro life is as good as it always was!

Oscar
DM with TRACC - Tropical Research And Conservation Center
— at Pom Pom Island

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butterfly fish survey

To survey the biodiversity of fish around Pom Pom we have started doing surveys by family since we have such an abundant of fish species.

First one to go was Butterfly fish, the survey was done at the Northern Tip divesite.

We not only saw a good diversity of Butterfly fish, species to be published later, we also saw a big school of about 20 bumphead parrotfish with a clown trigger fish in the middle of the school, and so many other beautiful ocean creatures.
Maria

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Fun diving

TRACC is not just conservation dives and diving courses, we also go fun diving. Myself, I love conservation dives, but sometimes it's nice to go out and just dive and appreciate all beauty around me.
Today was such a day, we got the privilage to see the beautiful ocean life and just enjoy.

The dive took place at a site called magic rocks which is in the south of Pom Pom island. Best time to dive here, in my opinion, is when the tides settled to avoid to strong currents. I like to do my dives slow.

Water temperature was 30 degrees, visibility about 17 metres and the sea was calm. Pretty perfect day here, nice to cool down in the water.

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

Razor fish

Ahhh Pom Pom Diving

Today we went diving at the wall at North Tip of Pom Pom Island, Borneo.

It was amazing, saw a rare orange tube anemone, pipefish, lion fish, big schools of fish in so many different colors, a turtle and so much beauty.
Water temperature was 30 degrees, visibility in the shallows endless and in the deep it must have been over 20 metres.
First time to try out my new camera, great pictures which I am sure willl get better as i learn what all the buttons are for.
Maria

moorish idol

Tube anemone

Grouper

tube anenome

Pipefish

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

First impressions of changes to Pom Pom reefs.

TRACC has just moved back to Pom Pom Island and the first batch of volunteers move from Kudat to Pom Pom on the 11th May.  The camp development team has been hard at work building kitchens, cleaning everything, digging wells, installing electricity, putting up tents and sneaking in a little dive at the end of the day.

While we have been working for a year in Kudat at the Tipof Borneo, all the Pom Pom reefs planted in 2012, 13 & 14 have been growing.  Our crate and bottle reefs are doing well, the cement from the biscuits are smothered by coral growth and there has been lots of natural settlement.

The cement biscuit is completely covered
 by the rapid growth of this Millepora (fire coral)

The fish life is now amazing, On today's dive we saw dog tooth tuna, 4 species of Trevally, a school of 60 long fin banner fish, 2 red snappers, 25 black snappers, uncountable red tooth triggers, The list goes on. Suffice to say that it is obvious that when we do scientific surveys of numbers we will find an amazing increase in fish numbers, diversity and size,
 Plus the reliable turtles - 7 were visible at one time and we saw 11-12 during a 1h dive.

Oh Boy its good to be back.  :-)

growth of corals on biscuits in the nursery

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 

A nice branching coral.

Turtle Nesting on Pom Pom

My first evening on Pom Pom and I spot 10 sea turtles in a 30 minute snorkel session...




Turtle heads back to sea maybe to return for another nesting in a few weeks

My second evening on Pom Pom and we witness the first turtle nesting of the peak season!

Up on the beach at around 20:00, it was an ideal night for it. The moon wasn't up yet and the heavy clouds blocked out what little light there was, making a great dark night for nesting.






Eggs safely collected after laying ready for incubation in the hatchery

This female was particularly speedy and took only 40 minutes before she headed back to sea. She's likely to return at least another two times to lay more eggs before she heads back to her feeding grounds. The eggs were collected and brought to the hatchery, protecting them from poaching. They should be hatched and ready to release in about 2 months.




A great sign for the start of the peak nesting season - we expect many more nestings as the weeks go on. What a start to my time on Pom Pom with TRACC.

Tom

More info about learning to dive or volunteering to help save the ocean with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers 
TRACC seriously recommends that all divers get certified to rescue.  This is why.





TRANSECT PROJECT AT TIP OF BORNEO

   The Transect Project is carried out to survey the reefs around TOB. The purposes of this project include:

1. To look for potential sites of other TRACC projects (E.g. the on-going Bottle Reef Project for reef recovery)
2. 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 ;-)

More info about volunteering with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers

Muck Diving in Kudat

Muck Diving in Kudat

        We all know scuba diving on a coral reef is an amazing experience, with colourful corals and an amazing array of marine life. With everything from spectacularly coloured fish to tiny shrimp, and all that’s in between.

        However, there is a whole world of weird and wonderful waiting to be discovered out on the sandy flats, which brings us to the often underestimated MUCK DIVE!

        Sure you won’t be instantly overwhelmed by the obvious beauty of a coral reef, but with a bit of patience and a keen eye the inhabitants of the muck are well worth the search.

        Out on the sandy flats of Kudat are some creatures you have to see to believe.

In this harsh environment lacking in shelter, the cunning creatures who call the muck home, are always on the lookout for cover, be it a discarded can or coconut husk.

        We have been building artificial reefs out in these baron environments, which has resulted in the reefs being swiftly populated, and left the surrounding sand flat teeming with life.

          The list of organism we at TRACC encounter includes: 

Mimic octopus

Frog fish

Ambon scorpionfish

Urchin carrier crabs

Snake eels

Sting rays

Sea horses

Ghost pipe fish.

         With such an impressive list of locals it can be hard to focus on the task at hand ;) but the work must go on.

         So the next time you’re on a dive and you see the sandy planes lurking just off the reef, head out there and explore, you may be rewarded with the treasures of the ocean not found by many.

          For more information on the exciting experience that is muck diving watch:

         ‘Mucky Secrets’ on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJMZ6reOB0E

More info about volunteering with TRACC in Malaysia - Turtle Snorkellers - Divers