SIP #1 - Perhentian Watercolours, May 30 - June 1st, 2008

[shafi]

   To The Rescue!!

11 EcoDivers (Eco-Muppets, Monsters, Mangkuks and myself combined) SAFELY returned from carrying out 8 underwater reef check surveys on Perhentian Island, covering 7 dive sites, over the last weekend – May 30 to June 1st.

EcoDivers who willingly sacrificed their work day and precious weekend to give back to Mother Nature – Deepblu, Scubabunny, Kah Mun, Miezegreat, Evelyn, Belle, Watercow, Jgshuwei, Cheah See Siang and Lee Yeon Huat.

The “video guys” / “we have names” – Rocket, Ted Adnan, Ipin and Helmy – who tirelessly documented every aspect of the survey activity that weekend… with bags and cases amounting more than the EcoDivers themselves, with equipment worth a landed property ... I can’t wait for the final product! Lights, camera, ACTION! But sorry, not enough power points at the rooms to charge up!


  BACKGROUND.

These surveys were carried out under the Sustainable Island Programme - a joint collaboration between Reef Check Malaysia and Wild Asia, together with corporate sponsor Sime Darby Plantation - to survey the reefs of Perhentian, Tioman and Redang. 

The first of the six survey trips started with Perhentian last weekend - and the weather was extremely welcoming... Good viz coupled with lotsa sun for photography and video. 

The group was split into two (but were mixed and matched differently every dive) and were led by myself and Peter Caron of Watercolours.

Here's how the trip went down...

 

[shafi]

  Dive 1: De Lagoon & SeaBell

The first dive was a check-out to just chill and get wet after a long drive overnight (thanks Deepy, Rocket and Watercow!!). The group split, so I can only report on those who came with me (duh). 

Shafi and gang did De Lagoon. Deepy, Mieze, Cheah, Lee, Watercow, Rocket, Ipin and myself attempted to look for the old survey stakes that were previously planted, but after 2 rounds of scouting, we couldn't locate the rusty old thing....

Time In: 1143hrs
Time Out: 1242hrs
Max: 11m
Ave: 6m (all surveys are shallow, thank goodness).
Water temp: 31 degrees.

What greeted us were a hawksbill turtle, a scribbled filefish, lots of butterflies, triggers, angels and fast&furious squids.

Peter & his team went to Seabell to lay the transect line for the actual survey later in the afternoon.

We were getting tired, but very optimistic and excited.

[shafi]

 Dive 2: Sea Bell & De Lagoon (Actual SIP Survey)

Peter and I swapped sites. Armed with 3 new stakes and a huge hammer, he went with Scubabunny, Kah Mun, Eve, Belle and Watercow to plant in new survey stakes at De Lagoon, while I went with the rest to Seabell, where the 100m transect line had been laid for the survey.

The hard corals at Seabell were mostly staghorns and there were lots of fish keeping us company.

• Fish survey - Cheah & Lee
  Invertebrate survey - Deepblu & Miezegreat
  Substrate survey - Shafi
  Video - Rocket & Ipin

Time In: 1608hrs
Time Out: 1724hrs
Max: 11.2m
Ave: 6m
Water temp: 31 degrees.

Meanwhile at De Lagoon, Peter's team found the old stake next to where they were whacking the new ones.

• Fish survey - Scubabunny & Kah Mun
  Invertebrate survey - Evelyn & Belle
  Substrate - Watercow

The first survey went extremely well and the team keyed in the survey data just before dinner time. 

As the sun set, lights were set up, cameras were flashing away, EcoDivers were interviewed... I'll leave it the discretion of Miezegreat and Still Motion to put up the photos of the day (with captions please!!)

 

[John F SeaDemon]

Viz was great last weekend when we were there guys.  There's even a resident cobia at Sugar Wreck now.

[shafi]

Deepblu missed dinner that first night - was totally flat out!!

After some rest, we all woke up ready for another day of surveys.

Dive 3: Tanjung Besi & Seabell (deeper-level survey for the latter)

Again tasked with having to find the old stakes at Tanjung Besi, Anke came with us to help locate them and she did it with ease. After laying the transect line and utilising 50 bar of air just going back & forth the 100m (had to do this rather quickly as we needed to observe the 15-minute wait after the line-laying, before the survey can commence), we all waited behind the starting point for the fishes to resume their normal behaviour.

I remembered thinking to myself as I laid the line at Tanjung Besi - "the fish guys are going to have one hell of a time counting them snappers!"

• Fish team - Watercow & Miezegreat
  Invert team - Carmen & myself
  Substrate - Muppet Scubabunny who left the plumbline on the boat

Date: May 31st
Time in: 1006hrs
Time out: 1114hrs (we were there for almost 70 mins)
Max: 8.2m
Ave: 5.7m
Water temp: 31 degrees

There were lots of snappers alright, and a gorgeous playful bumphead parrotfish that was acrobatically swimming near the surface. There were 3 Moorish Idols spotted, along with a pair of surgeonfish and triggers (big, but not yet aggresive). Sadly, Tj. Besi is suffering from nutrient pollution. Nutrient Indicator Algae (NIA) are proliferating, threatening this beautiful site.

Peter's team was surveying Seabell, but at a deeper level (in EcoDiver terms, deep is around 10m).

• Fish team - Belle & jgshuwei
  Invert team - Lee & Cheah
  Substrate - Peter & Eve.

 

[shafi]

  Dive 4: Batu Nesan (Shafi) & Lighthouse (Peter)

It was very quiet at Batu Nesan (i.e. not much fish activity). Jgshuwei and I stuck in new stakes as Batu Nesan because some of the old ones have been stolen. The line was laid over many giant clams and poor Eve and Jgshuwei had to measure them all to the nearest 10cm.
I did the fish survey with Belle and after that, I went back to 60m to assist Kah Mun with her substrate survey.

Date: May 31st
Time in: 1415hrs
Time out: 1528hrs (73 mins in 31 degrees water)
Max: 7.3m
Ave: 5m

Right after we finished out survey, 3 snorkelling boats came. Thank goodness they came when we were done otherwise it would have severely affected our fish counts.


Peter's team surveyed Lighthouse and found many snorkellers standing on corals. Many of the top areas of the hard corals were dead and 'bald', so it is very disturbing  . Deepy, Mieze, Watercow, Lee and Scubabunny would have the low-down on this.

 

[shafi]

Later into that Saturday night, we managed to get a great interview with Peter talking about reefs and the stresses they face - global warming, nutrient pollution, irresponsible diving/snorkelling, etc...

And he touched a bit about turtle conservation and why hatchlings should not be kept in buckets and released days later... turtle hatchlings have some sort of a 2-day clock-work energy system where they continuously flap their flippers about - this is for them to be able to get out of their nests, head towards the sea and swim as far as possible into the water and away from predators.

If we keep them in basins/buckets when they hatch, they will run out of their 2-days worth of energy reserves and by the time they are released, they won't be able to sufficiently get away from danger. Their chance of survival is greatly reduced the longer they are kept away from the sea.

And don't think that feeding them with bread and synthetic fish food will replenish their reserves to keep their flippers going. It will mess up their guts.

[shafi]

Back to the surveys...

Peter, Rocket, Ipin and myself woke up slight earlier to head off to Coral View (in front of PIR) to get some footage of a 'dead site'.

Date: June 1st.
Time in: 0840hrs
Time out: 0902hrs
Max: 7.3m
Ave: 6.4m

Saw a school of batfish upon descent, but everything else was a think blanket of algae - nothing would be able to recover here.

We were all literally diving in shit water. Yuck!

What was a pristine site 4-5 years ago, is now a grave.   

[Sheik]

Dive 3: Tanjung Besi & Seabell (deeper-level survey for the latter)
I remembered thinking to myself as I laid the line at Tanjung Besi - "the fish guys are going to have one hell of a time counting them snappers!"

• Fish team - Watercow & Miezegreat
  Invert team - Carmen & myself
  Substrate - Muppet Scubabunny who left the plumbline on the boat

There were lots of snappers alright, and a gorgeous playful bumphead parrotfish that was acrobatically swimming near the surface. There were 3 Moorish Idols spotted, along with a pair of surgeonfish and triggers (big, but not yet aggresive). Sadly, Tj. Besi is suffering from nutrient pollution. Nutrient Indicator Algae (NIA) are proliferating, threatening this beautiful site.

 

When Julian, Macha and I were at Tg Basi. We did see some bumpheads too. And a few pair of surgeonfish. (wow... I now appreciate better fish id.. )

[shafi]

  Dive 5: Shark Point (Shafi) & Batu Layar (Peter)

Rushed back from Coral View to organise the team into carrying out their last survey for the trip. One group did Shark Point, a new site not previously surveyed, and other site was Batu Layar... So had to take some stakes down to mark it. Muppet moment - Cheah left the hammer at the beginning of the line, when we had 2 more stakes to whack in at 50m and 100m.

The Shark Point Group:-
Fish team - Cheah & me
Invert team - Belle & Eve
Substrate - Miezegreat and me (myself working backwards from 94.5m to 50m, meeting with Mieze in the middle)

Time in: 1000hrs
Time out: 1053hrs (should have seen us race to reel back the transect line!!)
Max: 4.8m
Ave: 3.6m (I kept it shallow so that we can do a deeper one when we get back to the site this coming 2 weekends)

The site was pretty homogenous - staghorn corals most of the time, not many inverts or fish - except the occasional black-tip shark checking us checking them out. Another site to worry about as the substrate guys noted a lot of NIA along the way.  

While we were all eager to getback and pack in time to get our butts on the 12noon boat transfer, Ipin got carried away taking footage of the snorkellers and all 7 boats lined up along the buoy line...

But we made it alright. Phew!!!

[shafi]

   Sheik and Macha!!! Our two additions to the EcoDiver team...   

How was the training and certification? Share with us here la, since were all at the same place around the same time (missed each other by one day!)

Can you now pls register for some of the SIP surveys? How about this coming weekend at Tioman and the one in Redang?

 

[ariffin]

Here is one photo for the SIP. More to come .... soon. I promise. 

Sunrise at Besut Jetty

[shafi]

As I conclude this brief photo-less report of mine, I would like to take this opportunity to express my utmost gratitude to:-

The MUW & Sime EcoDivers - for without your dedicated effort and teamwork, these important data could not have been collected. We went beyond our target of surveying 4 sites that weekend, and did 7 instead.

The team from Watercolours - Peter Caron, Anke and the two boatmen (should have gotten their names!!!)... Good luck in all your conservation efforts - from the talks at other resorts, meetings with the relevant authorities, underwater surveys and beach clean-ups!

The "Video Guys / We Have Names" - you were a pleasant sexy handsome bunch to work with. Your team plays a vital role in communicating these reef rescue efforts to the wider public. We pray for a smooth post-production session with Sime!  

And last but not least, to our corporate sponsor, Sime Darby Plantation, for without their full support, this programme would not have gotten off the ground (and into the water).  


 

[shafi]

Here is one photo for the SIP. More to come .... soon. I promise. 

Sunrise at Besut Jetty

And I did say the weather was welcoming!! Nice one Ipin... make us drool!

[WATERCOW]

Appreciate your kind effort to post the report, knowing your busy schedule & how exhauasted you must be now.

Take good care of yourself, my beatiful lady boss.

As for the trip, I must thanks everyone the good time we had there. Proud to be a eco diver, and doing our little part to our reef conservation. I am sure our survey results are going to be in good hand and put to good use.

Thanks to Shafi - beatiful as usual, very kind of you to lead the group, and look after & pamper us so well
Thanks to watercolours - for the kind hospitality, the food is just fantastic.
Thanks to all eco-divers - how wonderful to dive with you all, admire all your delication
Thanks to the vidoe guys - thanks for all the nice video & photos. cant wait to see your final cut
Thanks to sime - please continue sponsor us, next year hope we can do layang layang 
 
Let me check on my schedule, I hope to i can do 1 or 2 more SIP survey.