Management
ANDAMAN CORAL ECOLOGIST DIVER PROGRAM
This project seeks to implement a monitoring protocol conducted by recreational divers towards generating data for effective coral reef management in the Andaman Islands. Strategic sites have been selected to best represent the reef and biological indicator species of fish and invertebrates have been identified to help us gauge environmental parameters and reef health. As a citizen science initiative the project will use a dive certification to encourage recreational divers to participate in the monitoring and conservation of coral reefs in the Andamans.
PROJECT GOALS
1. To generate data that informs reef managers toward appropriate protection measures validated by real-time and location-specific information.
2. To make dive centres and students stakeholders in the process of reef conservation.
At this point in time we are in talks with the various dive centers and reef managers in the islands to develop a protocol that is easy enough for novice and experienced divers alike to follow and that generates appropriate and scientifically valid data of the status of the reefs.
We are an Indian Not For Profit, established in1993 as a Public Charitable Trust, committed to the conservation of marine & coastal biodiversity.