Adventures of a Marine Biologist from Maine

In addition to the coral nursery and sea turtle hatchery, we also maintain an indigenous tree nursery.  Along with their common ecological benefits, trees are especially important on islands due to their natural coastal protection benefits.  The rising sea levels and the increasing intensity and amount of natural disasters due to global warming results in small islands becoming even more vulnerable to erosion and flooding, a problem I have seen firsthand here on Palau Tengah.  Not only does beach erosion damage property, but it also destroys natural nesting beaches for sea turtles.  Erosion and sediment runoff can not only be damaging to an island, but to the coral reef ecosystems directly around an island as well. Increased sedimentation in the water blocks the sunlight from reaching the corals, which prevents the corals from being able to photosynthesis and eventually can lead to coral bleaching and death. Since coral reefs act as a barrier during natural disaste...

One of the most important components of conservation organizations is the educational outreach.  For small conservation nonprofits like TIC, one of the best ways of continuing to grow and improve is with the support of the local community,  This past week I was fortunate enough to be involved in my very first educational outreach when the TIC team traveled to the harborport town of Mersing to visit a local school. TIC is part of the collaboration organization known as PEDAS, which is an environmental and conservation collection of various NGOs and government agencies that strive to raise awareness and educate local schools and communities about the natural and marine environment. Together, we were all invited to be guests at a local school in Mersing where we talked to 40 students about marine debris and the impacts associated with non-biodegradable materials such as single use plastics.  After the presentations, the students broke up into teams with 4-5 student...

Another main focus of the TIC team is coral reef conservation.   Although coral reefs cover less than 0.1% of the ocean floor, they support 25% of marine life.   Corals are the building blocks of coral reefs, and provide nurseries, shelter, and habitats for an abundant number of species. Unfortunately, corals themselves are currently facing a variety of threats, such as global warming, water pollution, overfishing, mass tourism, invasive species and much more.  The coral reefs surrounding Palau Tengah are beautiful and lively, and the more information the team has on the health and abundance of the reefs, the more prepared we are to protect them. We will be trained in the TIC team’s coral reef conservation program, which involves coral reef monitoring, coral nursery management and restoration.   The coral reef monitoring will involve conducting various scuba diving activities including fish surveys, invertebrate surveys, substrate surveys, underwater cleanu...

Our first orientation was on the endangered species found on Palau Tengah.  The two endangered species are both sea turtles, the hawksbill sea turtle and the green sea turtle. There are only 7 species of sea turtle in the world, all are which are identified as vulnerable by the IUNC. Although sea turtles have been around since before the dinosaurs, they currently face many anthropogenic and environmental challenges that drastically decrease their chances of survival such as habitat loss, predation from both natural predators and humans, and pollution. The green sea turtle maintains the IUNC of endangered, while the hawksbill is classified as critically endangered.    Since only 1 in every 1000 sea turtle hatchlings make it to full adulthood, our work is extremely important in order to increase the hatchlings chances of survival.  In the last 5 years, over 16,000 sea turtle hatchings have been safety released through TIC. We will be trained to participate in the...

On Monday I took the ferry from Mersing, Malaysia out to the small 1 mile circumference island in the South China Sea where I will be living for the next nine weeks, known as Pulau Tengah (Tengah Island).  While here I will be working six days a week for the organization Tengah Island Conservation (TIC). Tengah Island Conservation is a program affiliated with the Batu Batu Resort, the only other structure found on the private island. TIC has been working tirelessly with the Malaysian government to become their own nonprofit organization, and is scheduled to succeed this goal this upcoming September. The small collection of staff that run the dive center and conservation program are extremely passionate, friendly and hardworking, and have shown nothing but kindness to me since the second I stepped off the boat onto the island. As the program has only been running a few years, the team has tirelessly worked hard to become a PADI 5 star dive center and a professional con...