Volunteer/Intern Experiences Archives - Reef Doctor

“What a wonderful way to start the new decade!”

January 19, 2020/in Volunteer/Intern Experiences/by RD Communications Team

Here is the second monthly blog of life at Reef Doctor from our Research Assistant & Divemaster Intern, Esmee Tobin.

“It’s a new year, and a new decade, and what a way to spend it, in Madagascar! Though only two months have passed, I feel like I have spent forever here. I’ve learnt loads more things, and I hope I can share some of that with you here!

Firstly, I’ve finished my Advanced Open Water! This was comprised of a bunch of fun dives, from drift diving with the current, to a night dive with only torches to light our way, it was a fun opportunity to go on some dives I never normally would have gone on. My favourite was definitely the deep dive, where we went to 25 meters. I was in charge of planning this dive, looking over maps and calculating surface breathing to see how long we could spend at specific depths. It was a cool learning experience, and one that I need to get used to. One of the responsibilities of us interns is planning and leading dives. And even though we aren’t qualified to rescue diver, we can still take over most of the responsibilities as long as a dive officer is watching over us. It’s a nice way to get used to being a dive leader without the stress of being chucked into doing it straight away.

Secondly, we’ve been doing some new science projects! We have now started to do coral cleans at least once a week. Around one of our closest dive sites, a marine protected area called Rose Garden, Reef Doctor has built a variety of rebar structures to grow coral on, the most notable ones being the nursery table, and swim through. These structures are tourist attractions for divers from the local hotels, and it is our job to maintain them. As the water in the bay is warming up for the summer months, algae is thriving. This means that the swim through and other such sites are becoming covered in more algae than coral. A coral clean dive is comprised of floating around, with toothbrushes in hands scrubbing away at the metal and the base of the corals, making sure that as much is cleaned off as possible, without damaging the coral. It’s a really peaceful dive to go on, and a good way to practice your buoyancy control.

We have also started monitoring the health of the coral itself, with many bleaching surveys taking place in response to the summer heatwave. In fact, the water right now is 30-32 degrees, more like a bath than an ocean! Coral bleaching occurs when the algae within a coral, that helps it photosynthesise and gain energy from the sun, overheats and dies, leaving coral appearing pale. Without the extra sustenance, most corals proceed to die. Though this allows hardier coral to thrive, it is still good to monitor what is surviving and what isn’t to keep track for future bleaching events. To monitor the bleaching of the coral, we must first identify the coral on a species level, a rather complicated task, but with the help of a couple of waterproof guides, I feel like I am getting the hang of it! The process itself is easy, simply set down a quadrat randomly on the reef and write down the different types of coral that you can see within that square, mark whether it is alive, pale or bleached, and then calculate the percentage cover of the coral within the quadrat, along with soft coral and algae. Then rinse and repeat as many times as possible!

There are so many new science projects starting up in this new year, along with all of the dive training that I shall soon be packing in, as I draw nearer to getting my Divemaster. Each week there is at least on new thing to do, from maintaining algae farms, to visiting our local mangrove project, Honko, there are always new learning experiences and chances to find out about how Reef Doctor is helping the local communities in addition to the local reefs. What a wonderful way to start the new decade!”

A Window into Life as a Reef Doctor Intern

December 14, 2019/in Volunteer/Intern Experiences/by RD Communications Team

Travelling on a gap year is always a fantastic experience, made even better when one gets the chance to volunteer for something they love. For me, that chance came through Reef Doctor. I have been in Madagascar for one month now, and I will be staying here for five more. I’m here on the Research Assistant and Divemaster Internship offered by Reef Doctor. It’s a fantastic opportunity to spend my gap year not only scuba diving and doing other marine-based activities, but also learning the skills required for scientific diving while helping the local community through English lessons and beach cleans.

So, as I am here for a while, I have volunteered to document my experiences once a month through this blog! To introduce myself, my name is Esmee, I’m 18 years old and British. I just finished sixth form and decided that, instead of going straight to university, I wanted to travel somewhere first to learn more about about the world!

The first month in Madagascar has been amazing. Though it was stressful travelling so far by myself for the first time, I managed to meet up with a fellow intern for the long haul flight over, and it was definitely reassuring having someone who really knew what they were doing. My first impression of Reef Doctor’s camp is a little faded even now, everything seemed to go by so quickly!

Getting used to a new way of living was difficult at first. The sun rising at 5:00 am always managed to wake me up, along with all the noisy birds starting their raucous morning conversations with each other. Luckily, every day is jam-packed with new and interesting experiences! I’ve already participated in coral cleans, seagrass surveys, sponge searches, turtle tagging, and fish point outs. There is always something new to learn!

The people here are all welcoming and kind, especially when I was feeling homesick. Sitting with everyone on the porch in the evenings overlooking the water has never failed to get my mind off of my worries. It’s fun to spend time with my fellow interns as well, we have already spent a weekend together, visiting the nearby spiny forest and relaxing on the beach. Everyone comes from such different backgrounds. The experiences that they have had, never cease to surprise me.

I still have 5 months ahead of me, and so much more to do, so I hope you hang around and continue reading these little posts, and that you find them to be an interesting window into life here in Madagascar!

By Esmee Tobin

Volunteer Experiences with the Reef Doctor Honko Project

December 17, 2018/in Volunteer/Intern Experiences/by RD Communications Team

Find out what life is like volunteering with the Reef Doctor Honko Project (mangrove conservation) in this blog by one of our recent volunteers, Elsa Descamps.

“After a 2-day journey from Antananarivo to Tulear via taxi brousse, I eventually arrived in Honko. First, I was introduced to the Reef Doctor project site in Ifaty, 10 km north from the Honko site in Ambondrolava. There, I met diving-passionate volunteers from all over the world.

Arriving at Honko, the first Malagasy word I learned was mazotoa, meaning enjoy. It illustrates perfectly the atmosphere of the place. Thierry (Honko Project Manager) and Lalas (Volunteer Coordinator and Tour Guide) were very welcoming and knowledgeable. Living most of the time with them, you soon feel part of their family. When I arrived I was the only volunteer but Thea, a beautiful human being from Australia, joined me soon after. We shared the same dorm, a basic but comfortable room equipped with mosquito nets and…Electricity! With November’s heat, you soon learn to enjoy the cold bucket showers. The water extracted from the well is used for showers and dishes but drinking water is filtered in the kitchen. Food is made by a cook and when hunger hits us, we share the meal in the living room. It was mainly bokoboko (local bread) for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch and rice and vegetables/meat (once a week) for diner. Food is available at any time of the day. The immersion in the Gasy lifestyle is great and gives a satisfying break in habits.

Lalas guided Thea and I through the mangrove and we instantly wanted to learn more about this fascinating ecosystem. Books about mangrove species, birds and Malagasy are available in the living room. So we spent the first days trying to engulf as much information as we could. Eventually through field work and two weekly bird monitoring events – with Lalas giving us some valuable recognition characteristics – we became able to identify most of the species we encountered.

Between the several projects that Honko is undertaking I could choose the one that I had the most interest in. Reforestation and gardening were what interested me the most, so planting became the main part of my work during my 2-month stay. Plus, in November, the yellow and black mangrove propagules – seedlings growing on the parent tree – are ready to plant. Along with the Honko team, volunteers and environmental education students we harvested propagules in deep mud (at low tide) or in waist-high water (at high tide). As well as being a lot of fun, it was very efficient and some days we collected more than a thousand propagules that we then planted in deforested areas.

The weather was hot and dry, this combined with a sandy soil makes gardening very challenging. To give the soil some nutrients, we launched a new compost with fresh zebu manure and organic food remains. Once a week the compost is turned and watered in order to add some oxygen and moisture. The outcome is already successful! This black gold is then used for planting tomatoes, red peppers, mangoes, baobab and other locally growing trees in the nursery in order to help the veggie garden project and improve the Honko camp site.

Once a week, along with Thierry and Thea, we taught English to the students of the neighbourhood villages. Even though the level is heterogeneous, their eagerness to learn makes it very exciting.

Finally, after a week of work (roughly 7 hours a day) we enjoyed a kayak tour of the mangrove channel that leads to the sea. I would advise an early sunrise expedition. There is also plenty to do in the surroundings: diving with Reef Doctor in Ifaty, walking through baobabs in the Spiny Forest of Mangily or lazing in the transparent water of Anakao.

Last but not least, I’ll always remember when the Women’s Association’s president, Jacqueline, she taught me how to weave reeds as she did to the rest of the community before. I was really moved by her patience even though we only communicated through gesture.

Misaotra betsaka an’i Honko! Amin’ny manaraka indray!

Thank you very much Honko! See you next time!

You can find out more about our Honko volunteer programme here.

Recent Volunteer Insights

September 19, 2018/in Volunteer/Intern Experiences/by RD Communications Team

Ann-Kathrin and Daniel, from Germany, spent a month volunteering with us back in July-August, here they share their experiences and insights of our volunteer programme and the work we do.

“After arriving in Toliara at the end of the beautiful Route Nationale 7, we headed straight for Reef Doctor, about 25 km north, for a month of volunteering in the small village of Ifaty in the Bay of Ranobe. Reef Doctor (RD) is an NGO and, as the name suggests, its primary goal is to conserve marine life. RD wants to achieve this by active marine research and conservation, but also, and probably much more important, by educating the communities and creating sustainable livelihoods for the people in the Bay of Ranobe.

In this blog we would like to focus on our time at Reef Doctor and some the projects we were involved in.

Reef Doctor site
RD is located on the beach in Ifaty, which lies in the Bay of Ranobe. The living conditions here are very basic, but it is such a beautiful site!

Reef conservation and artificial reefs
Some of the main projects conducted by RD involve diving. There are now two marine protected areas in the Bay of Ranobe that were established by RD in collaboration with the local fishermen’s association. This was a long and strenuous process because you have to convince the locals that it is actually good for them to stop fishing in certain areas. The main protected area where RD operates is called Rose Garden. The edges of this reef are quite damaged, but in parts you can still see how amazing the whole site once must have been and will surely be again in the future.

Next to the Rose Garden reef, RD installed a coral table which acts as a nursery for corals. During our time at RD we collected coral pieces from an unprotected area that were fragmented due to natural reasons, fishing with nets, or probably even by snorkelers or divers, and brought them up to the boat. There we superglued them to dead pieces of coral and then transported them to the nursery table, where they were attached and left to grow. The crucial part is the superglue, because corals have to be firmly attached to something to be able to grow and the process is very slow. In exchange for the newly added corals, we took corals that were already strong and big enough off the table and transplanted them onto rocks on the reef with epoxy putty (used in plumbing and in aquariums) that hardens within 24 hours and keeps the coral stable on the rock.

In parallel, in a collaboration with the villagers, stones have been sourced, brought out with pirogues and placed on the seabed. The volunteers and staff at RD then organised the rocks to create an artificial reef where marine life can find a new home. These artificial reef structures are supplemented with concrete dome-shaped habitat enhancement structures with lots of holes to attract even more marine life, specifically juvenile fish and invertebrates. In the long run, the artificial reef sites should take the pressure off the established and overfished fishing grounds.

Dive training and marine research
While working at RD, volunteers are able to begin or continue their dive training. We completed our Advanced Open Water Diver, others started with the Open Water Diver or even Dive Master. But there is more! All volunteers receive science training comprising a lecture series and training in identification of fish, invertebrates and benthic composition. Completing this training to the indicator level (there is also an expert level with more species) enabled us to actively participate in coral reef surveys. By doing so, we helped provide information on the health and status of the reef. For the protected areas, the prognosis quite good. The conservation efforts are making a difference! Yay!

Fisheries

To have an idea about how much the people in the area fish and which gear they use, RD performs regular assessments of catches and fishing efforts in different villages. It is a very interesting to participate in one of these surveys, to see the pirogues with their beautiful sails coming home and being crowded by people who want to be the first to buy some fish. But it is also sad to see the many exotic and rare fish and invertebrates (e.g., squid or octopus) that the people catch. The only fish locals won’t eat are poisonous ones. If a shark or even a dolphin finds their way into the bay, you can be sure it will be found on the market very soon after.

RD is trying to control catches of marine turtles with a tagging project: fishermen are paid for every turtle caught under a certain size and brought to the RD site. Here, it is measured and tagged and then the fishermen can release it again where they found it and get a cash reward for it. This worked quite well while we were there and roughly 3-4 turtles per week were brought in. While this surely helps to protect young turtles, there are wider issues still needing to be tackled concerning adults.

Aquaculture
To further reduce fishing pressure, RD is trying to establish alternative livelihood projects with the villagers. There are several aquaculture projects, such as pisciculture, and growing seaweed or sea cucumbers for the Chinese market. Farming seaweed also has the fantastic side effect of providing a perfect nursery habitat for juvenile fish, undisturbed by fishing. Furthermore, in collaboration with Indian Ocean Trepang (IOT) in Toliara, RD helps provide selected villagers from Ambalomailake or Andrevo with juvenile sea cucumbers. IOT is specialised in breeding sea cucumbers and agreed to provide juveniles to locals who then let them grow in enclosed pens. When they reach a certain size, they can sell them for a profit and give a percentage of the money back to IOT. This enables the sea cucumber farmers to generate an extra income to fishing.

Protecting mangrove trees at Honko
Mangroves are a very important habitat for marine life. These coastal trees have several functions benefitting the reefs. They provide a perfect habitat for juvenile fish, they filter the water and improve its quality, and they protect the coast from erosion which reduces sedimentation on the reef. Honko means mangrove in Malagasy and at the Honko site, RD manages a protected area for mangroves that were in the past cut down by people to make coal (which is the primary material for cooking) or simply to make space for reeds, which can be used for building houses and roofs, or for use as a salt pan. The protected site offers guided tours and canoe trips through the mangroves. When we were there measured replanted mangroves and analyzed how much they had grown since they had been planted. In another project at Honko, the staff and volunteers there are trying out different compositions of soil from available materials (such as zebu poo!) to be able to grow vegetables despite the dry conditions.

Teaching English
This was a fun way to connect with the villagers. Most of the people here speak only their local dialect and not more than a few words of French. Speaking English could enable some of the people to work in tourism, especially in Mangily, Ifaty’s neighboring village, where a lot of tourists come to enjoy the beach. Every week at RD, volunteers that are interested in education or interacting with with the local community, can participate in the preparation of courses and assist the English class in Ifaty or in Ambondrolava villages.

Leisure time
Of course, we also had free time while being a member of RD and we usually used it for relaxing, going to the local bar in Ifaty, going on fun dives, or going on weekend trips! There is a lot to do in the area!

We really enjoyed our time at Reef Doctor and are proud to have been a part of the amazing work they do. It was a pleasure to meet so many motivated and awesome people there. The time we had in Ifaty went by way to fast!”

Blog: Ann-Kathrin Bott & Daniel Gaul

Photo credits: Dan Gaul, AK, Liz Pasea, Lucy Fisher and Margot Chapon

Winter Doesn’t Just Mean Thicker Wetsuits…

August 19, 2018/in Conservation, Volunteer/Intern Experiences/by RD Communications Team

Volunteers and interns play a significant role in our reef restoration programme in the Bay of Ranobe. Here, Reef Doctor volunteer Elizabeth Pasea describes our coral transplantation project which takes place in Madagascar’s winter months (June-October).

“Cooler waters in winter in the Bay of Ranobe means it’s coral transplant season here at Reef Doctor. We transplant coral to repair existing reefs damaged by fishing gear, storms, or divers’ fin strikes, increase biodiversity of coral species within particular coral environments, and also to create new reef habitats or supplement artificial reefs.

The Bay of Ranobe is largely enclosed by a barrier reef and its calm waters require careful stewardship to prevent overfishing. By increasing the areas within the bay that are populated with coral, additional habitats for fish spawning and feeding will become available, increasing the general fish population and ensuring a more sustainable fishery. It is also hoped that rich coral environments will attract more tourists and create new types of livelihoods for people here.

Transplanting coral starts with searching for ‘corals of opportunity’. These are broken bits of hard coral that are detached from their former colonies during storms or contact with fishing gear. We have favourite spots where we search around the likely types of coral on the seabed. I was surprised that fragments as small as my little toe can be viable for transplantation. If we did not gather these fragments, it’s unlikely that they would form new colonies where they fall. Gloves are necessary to handle the fragments- oil on human skin can damage coral, (and some coral can damage human skin!); then we place them in zip lock bags under water. Back on the boat, they are placed in a shaded bucket as we motor to our next destination, either a coral nursery or artificial reef site. We take care to keep the fragments cool, to prevent them from secreting mucous, a sign of stress.

If the fragments are destined to be placed straight onto their next permanent home, we dive with minimum delay, moulding epoxy on the boat and remembering to work it to keep it soft, as we descend to the reef. Once we have found a suitable small depression in the substrate (usually rock or dead coral), we clean any algae away with a toothbrush and mould epoxy around the base of the coral fragment to hold it in place. Over the next day or so, it hardens. In time, a successful coral transplant’s polyps will start to encrust over the epoxy and the substrate, and a thriving colony will form.

If we don’t have a new permanent site for our coral fragments, we place them in a coral nursery. Before we dive for the second time, we superglue the live fragments to pieces of dead coral; the dead coral can then be affixed to underwater structures such as tables or metal rebar arches with cable ties. The live coral will start to encrust over the dead coral, instead of over the nursery structure, which makes it easier to perform the transplant once a new permanent home is found. As with any garden, we check on it frequently, and clean away algae (with toothbrushes), from our coral ‘babies’ weekly.”

Blog by Reef Doctor volunteer Elizabeth Pasea
Photo credits: Daniel Gaul

“What a wonderful way to start the new decade!”

A Window into Life as a Reef Doctor Intern

Volunteer Experiences with the Reef Doctor Honko Project

Recent Volunteer Insights

Winter Doesn’t Just Mean Thicker Wetsuits…

About Reef Doctor

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