Description

The Reef Check Foundation is an international marine conservation organization with teams in over 80 countries and territories worldwide. By bringing together public, academia, NGOs and governments, it aims to educate about the coral reef crisis and to create a global network of volunteers that regularly monitor and report on reef health in order to take action to protect and rehabilitate reefs worldwide. Everyone wishing to participate and help conduct Reef Check surveys is encouraged to become a certified Reef Check diver/snorkeler. Together with marine scientists, volunteers can carry out scientifically based, targeted coral reef surveys based on the most widely used coral reef monitoring protocol. The techniques are simple to learn and the data are scientifically robust. In this course, you have the chance to get to know Reef Check and have an introduction into marine science methods used to evaluate and report on reef health. After a theory lesson, where we learn about underwater research, introducing survey materials and studying indicator fish and coral species, we go for a trial run to explore and evaluate the reefs in front of KAUST either snorkeling or diving. In the end, we will discuss our findings based on the theoretical knowledge previously acquired.