Wednesday, September 3, 2008

CSI: Tioman - Hunter hunted

Every criminal leaves something behind. And coral reefs have been scenes of criminal activity for years. Be it humans or alien action these are some examples of damages in the reefs:

corals for aquariums, trawling, land reclamation, overfishing, global warming, industrial pollution, dynamite fishing, silt from land erosion, sewage and oil and pesticide wastes, warm water outflows, ocean acidification, over predation, tourism, coastal development, disease, invasive species ... ...

Reefs are in danger all around the world from threats as mentioned above. The atrocities cannot continue! The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) have developed a universal toolkit and training program which can be used to assess damage in any major coral reef region. This program will create new initiates of coral reef Crime Scene Investigators, who can identify and quantify the extent of damage to reefs, and take on anyone about the subject with good solid evidence.[1]

CSI instructors are only a handful: Angelique Brathwaite, Ken Goddard, Dave Gulko, Patricia Ramírez Romero, Rubén Torres, Karenne Tun (Boss 1), Eric Clua.[2] The initiates: Coral reef managers, Enforcement Officers and other Natural Resource Trustee-associates involved with the preservation of their respective regions.

The latest CSI workshop was conducted at Pulau Tioman, a Malaysian national marine park, from 1st to 6th September 2008 for the South East Asian associates.



The course is intensive and grueling on the mind and body; daily dives, long lectures and reading assignments. Getting out of the classroom is emphasized and techniques are practiced on land prior to the underwater exercises. With these skills and tools the managers can assess the damages done to reefs and ascertain from ‘fingerprint’ evidence who dunnit.




[1] http://www.icran.org/csi-training-workshops.html
[2] http://www.icran.org/csi-team.html

Photos by Theo

Jacque and Theophilus finished work at 9:29 AM

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Jacque and Theophilus
18071990 / 28081990
NUS High School
NUS Marine Biology Labs

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