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

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
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Conservation projects 2016

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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.

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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.

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 Become a volunteer in 2016 here

Conservation projects 2016

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Getting good grades at A level

TRACC only offers one A level, Cambridge Marine science 9693 and we get excellent results including in 2015 - the student with the highest marks in the world.
Our record for A grades is 75%.  That's a whole lot of UKAS points if you want to get into uni, or its a good step towards your first year at college.

shoreline transects are next to the classroom.

One of the reasons we get such good grades it that it's much easier to do your A-levels like this than it is in a 2-year school setting. At school you will be tested on something you studied 18 months earlier. In this course no information is more than 3 months old. Also, school might devote 6 hours a week to an A-level. We have people living and breathing science constantly. It goes in by osmosis almost. Plus, there's nothing else to study for.

Up close and personal with mangrove forests

You're only holding 1/3rd of your A-level information in your brain.

Finally, we spend the whole of revision week revising this one subject and doing past papers. It gets to the point where people say "Oh, this question was on yesterday's paper with different numbers". In practice tests our students start to count the marks they DIDN'T get, rather than the marks they did.

OH yes, having the ecosystems and biodiversity next to the jetty cannot hurt either.  A few days ago we interrupted class to go and watch Pilot whales and Dolphins.  Today, we watched giant frog fish and blue ring octopus in our lunch break!  We also have turtles nesting and amazing coral reefs around the island.

Study time after a diving practical

We can only offer the A level class once each year but our volunteers, gap year travelers who come for shorter periods also learn a lot about marine conservation, scientific diving, ecosystems and biodiversity.


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Fish population growth     Video

Rescued sharks 
Conservation projects 2016

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Beach study using profiles, transects
 and quadrats.

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Tides make so much more sense
 when the students watch them change each day.

Reflection: Building Artificial Reefs

Step Reefs

My experience at TRACC revolved around building step reefs which is a type of artificial reefs. Step reefs are placed on the slope of the ocean bed to serve as wave barrier.( If you're confused don't worry! I was too when I first started. But you'll pick up things easily at TRACC)

It's funny when I first heard the term "step reef".  I thought it was a square reefs just like steps of a stairs. I had a lot of questions playing through my mind. Was it big? Was it small? Was it square? Only later did I realize it was simply a square with glass bottles attached to it. If I had the time, I would have spent it trying to play around with the materials used in building the step reef such as steel or twigs. (Maybe I'll come back next year!)

Making a step reef is not as complicated as it seems. The main material used are cements and bottles. You mix the cements on a crate and add the bottles to it. It's simple! Of course, it's going to take some hardwork such as working in the sun and able to dive a couple of times a day to plant the reefs underwater. Sometimes, I get exhausted but then I realize how much impact I get to make to the environment and that motivates me a lot.

Hardworking :)

TRACC provides training and a place to make your artificial reefs. In fact, I wouldn't have even learned most of the things I have without training. My experience at TRACC will help my goal to pursue my education in marine biology which is something I'm deeply passionate about. More than that, I gained valuable experience as an intern here - how often does anyone get to say they've had hands on experience building coral reefs!




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Ten facts to know about becoming a marine biologist

Dive surveys

Ten facts you need to overcome to plan a career as a marine biologist. 
Start with more info - if you are still at school or pre U or working on a career change then a marine science course will help test your desires before you spend 3-4 years at Uni or college.

Becoming a marine biologist is fantastic in many ways but it is a hard choice.  Jobs are few.  From 10 people with PhD degrees only 1 will be working in their chosen field by the time they are 40 years old. Many more will work in the dive tourism industry.

Most marine biologists are part-time, they have careers in other fields. Sometimes teaching, sometimes aquaculture, sometimes fisheries, sometimes in aquariums. Not many get to be "Marine Biologists". The smartest people can work in Universities doing experiments, a few lucky people (like me) make marine biology part of another career (tourism management) and get to spend some days each month in the field.  To succeed you need brains, hardwork, determination and luck (IMHO).

1 Not all your work will be glamourous,  autopsy on turtles killed by plastic (conservation), measuring and gutting fish (fisheries) or working with sick, dying fish (aquaculture) will test your gag reflex and resolve.

Measuring sharks

2 It is not well paid and the career prospects are low. Jobs are hard to find - start as an intern.  Biotechnology is a much better career choice or Fisheries or Aquaculture.

3 Lots of time is spent in the office writing reports, blogs or social media and lots more time is spent in meetings.

4 Studying, saving or simply managing any part of the planet is frustratingly slow, from species which need protection today to ecosystems that are changing slowly because of global climate change.

5 The weather is not always kind,  a beach survey in January at low tide (= dawn) anywhere in the world is hard but cold places have more jobs than warm places so chances are it will be snowing.

6 Do you get seasick?  Some of the best marine biologists avoid boats because of this. There are shore based jobs out there but there is more competition for jobs where you get to go home every day :-)

Pre dawn light on a rocky shore survey

7 Do you hate bugs?  From jellyfish and stonefish to mosquitos and ants there is always something trying to bite, sting or eat you.

8 Life on a tropical beach for months at a time when diving every day is hard on your body.  You need a strong immune system and a willingness to eat all the fruit and vegetables possible.  Finding enough protein as a vegetarian is extra hard so carnivores suffer less from infuriating illnesses.

9 Do you love study and reading.  The ocean is the underexplored 70% of the planet and we learn new things all the time.  Study and reading are part of the process.

10 Does a foreign culture excite you.  There are more jobs scattered around the world but to survive the culture shock you need to be able to accept hardship because chances are; that where-ever you get to work doesn't have familiar fast food or supermarkets.

Underwater work

If this has not put you off - the benefits to being a marine biologist are many.  Read what Natalie says about her Internship.

Read the 10 best reasons for studying marine science here.

or the 10 best ways to become a marine biologist here.
or How to get a job in Marine Conservation.

good luck

Lifting heavy objects - There are days when diving is just another job. 

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TRACC gets 60% A & A* Grades in the 2015 Marine Science A Level

The A-level results are in and TRACC have had another bumper crop of excellent grades! 100% A*-C with 40% of our students scoring an A*!

Adding this our already impressive history in teaching this diverse and exciting course we now have a (haha) TRACC record of 75% Grades A or A* ! That's a cool 120-140 UCAS points if you need a boost to your British University application. The Cambridge Marine Science (9693) A-level is also well recognized by other institutions around the world.

You may also be interested to know that only 25% of our A-level candidates have had any previous scientific study and 40% have only high school education (age 16 in the UK). The intensive nature of the course, the small class size and the constant availability of the tutors means that this course, and a good grade in it, is well within the grasp of anybody.

TRACC are one of the few non-academic institutions offering this interesting and comprehensive scientific course worldwide. It runs annually for approximately 12 teaching weeks between January and April, culminating immediately in the Cambridge exams in early May. There is literally no way to forget anything since you eat, sleep, breathe (and dive) marine science every day for 12 weeks. Then we have a week of intensive revision followed immediately by the exams.

The course is fieldwork based with lots of practical immersion in the subject.  Check out our trips to study Rocky shores,  Fisheries, Mangroves, , Coasts, plus underwater biodiversity and ecology studies.

Hard not to be inspired by beaches as beautiful as this.

As though this wasn't enough, the  A-level course includes 12 weeks accommodation on our certifiably beautiful beach and PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water as well. PLUS we have amazing macro marine life,  turtles nesting on the beach...++

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

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Soft coral rubble slope consolidation experiment

Pompom Island

As mentioned in the previous blog post, Pompom island marine environment has large areas where the benthic type is that of a mobile rubble slope. This degraded ecosystem is caused by dynamite fishing and generally has lower biodiversity and fish density than the coral environment that preceded it. Here at TRACC we are working upon methodologies to consolidate the rubble with the hopes of returning it to the bio-diverse hotspot it once was. Mobile rubble slopes present a difficult ecosystem for recolonizing of hard corals as newly settled recruits often attach to a mobile piece of rubble and end up rolling down the slope. Currently at TRACC we are using soft coral replantation techniques to consolidate the rubble slope. Whitney Hoot and myself decided to investigate this and see what effect, if any, the soft coral was having upon the slope.

Firstly 3 different sites upon the north east side of the island (house reef) were chosen. Sites were selected based on the following criteria; benthic cover type (rubble), depth (~5m), slope angle (between 34-45 degrees), distance below reef crest (1-2 meters) and crest characteristics (no coral heads etc.).

Once sites were selected, 3 nets were deployed measuring 2x8 meters. To each of these nets two treatments and a control was added (thank you to all the volunteers who participated in this). Treatments included cabling tying soft coral to the net, cable tying bare rubble to the next and a control on each side of the net.

After nets had been put in place and quality control had been completed,  121 pieces of labeled and painted rubble fragments were randomly added to the top of the quadrats in each net. This was also repeated for the bottom of the nets using differently painted corals. Our plan now is to track the progress of the rubble movement over time to and see if there are any significant changes.

As well as rubble movement every individual coral colonies was photographed , ID’d and measured using imageJ software. Recording colony height, soft coral density and number of runners will allow us to monitor the growth and survival rates of all the soft corals in the experiment. And lastly i will monitor the benthic community structure that follows due to the change in environment. 

A speedy nudibranch rushes to see what we're upto

Whitneys ingenious labeling methodology

A beautiful sunset to mark the end of experiment preparation

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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

Malaysian Interns 2015

Our 2015 Malaysian Interns are finally here!

Malaysian Universities require their students to do twelve weeks of Industrial Training as part of their degree course. This year our lucky interns are coming to us from both UMT and UMS and have backgrounds in Marine Science or Conservation Biology. They successfully beat the rush back in December and were undeterred by the challenging application process; Allen, Martinus, Nadia & Shaakirah have finally made it all the way to an exciting internship with TRACC on Pom Pom, Sabah, Malaysia.

They will learn to scuba dive and (once they get past blowing bubble rings for hours) how to get to work underwater. Cement mixing, concrete lifting and lowering, reef rebuilding and coral transferring are all part of the days work at TRACC. This is part of our major restoration work where we stop the decimated rubble reef from moving and plant healthy baby corals in stable conditions. These in turn grow, stabilize the rubble further and provide critical habitat for all the other denizens of the reef.

On top of this, they will be undertaking research rotations with our resident scientists on the long term projects TRACC has running. These include fish, coral and invertebrate identification to species (there are over 300 species of fish alone!). The coral garden identification and mapping project (the coral id book comes in 3 volumes!). Soft coral stabilization of steep, mobile, rubble substrates ("Perhaps we can use soft coral to "stitch" the reef back together so that it stops moving enough for us to replant it".). Turtle daily migration patterns (Seriously, where does George go every afternoon?).

Finally, they will be mixing with people from different places, ages, backgrounds, opinions and experiences and discussing and debating all the marine science, conservation, ecology, anthropology, sociology and politics that affect the marine environment. The critical thing that unites everyone at TRACC is a love of the ocean, a passion to preserve what we have and the dedication to restore what has been damaged.

Allen, Martinus, Nadia & Shaakirah have a unique opportunity to witness the problems and take part in the solutions for themselves before graduating as enthusiastic Malaysian Scientists.

Good Luck Guys!



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