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Biosphere Expeditions
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2-week expeditions 
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Paradise in peril: studying & protecting reefs, sharks, dolphins and turtles of the Pulau Tioman Marine Park, Malaysia. SCUBA volunteer vacation / diving conservation holiday protecting the coral reefs of Tioman, Malaysia.
Price/dates/status
This SCUBA diving voluntourism project will take you to Tioman, the Malaysian island named by Time Magazine as one of the world's most beautiful. Working in a very small group of five participants, one scientist and one expedition leader, you will assist the local researcher to study and protect the local Marine Park's beautiful but fragile coral reefs, as well as its marine megafauna such as sharks, dolphins & turtles. For the first five days of training and familiarising yourself with the Reef Check research techniques, you will be based at a beach chalet resort on Tioman island. After this, you will move to a 45 ft sloop rig sailing yacht research vessel, which will take you to remote areas of the Marine Park. The expedition includes training as a Reef Check EcoDiver; with this qualification you are eligible to apply for PADI or NAUI Reef Check Speciality Course certification after the expedition. Please note that you need to be a fully qualified diver to take part in this expedition (minimum PADI Open Water or equivalent) and that you can obtain this qualification on site prior to the expedition (allow four to five extra days).
DetailsDuring the expedition you will have the opportunity to become a fully certified Reef Check EcoDiver. With this certification you are also eligible to apply for PADI or NAUI Reef Check Speciality Course certification. All the course materials and the certification as a Reef Check EcoDiver are part of your expedition contribution.
Aims & objectives
(1) To monitor the health of the Pulau Tioman Marine Park’s reefs, its fish and megafauna communities (turtles, sharks, dolphins) so that informed management, education and conservation decisions can be made by the government and NGOs. Background Pulau Tioman is located 40 km off the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. The island has a relaxed, quiet feel with beautiful, sandy beaches and a densely forested interior. The island’s population is just over three thousand.The reefs of Pulau Tioman Marine Park are some of the healthiest and most diverse around peninsular Malaysia and lie just inside the ‘coral triangle’, an area that has been identified as having the highest diversity of coral species anywhere in the world. The reefs in the coral triangle support 600+ genera of reef-building corals, 3000+ species of fish and contain 75% of all coral species known to science. The coral triangle was identified as a priority area for marine conservation and, during the 2007 United Nations Climate Change conference in Bali, a pledge to protect this marine environment was drawn up between the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Pulau Tioman was gazetted as a nature reserve and Marine Park in 1998 to protect these valuable resources. A Marine Parks division of the government is present on the island. However, the island’s growing tourist trade, crown of thorns population booms and developments on land are threatening the reefs’ health and so data on the current biological status of the reefs and of population levels of key indicator species are crucial for park management and educational efforts. Tourism development is a priority for the government, but sustainable tourism is being overlooked in favour of cheaper, and more damaging mass tourism. If Malaysia’s government and local populations can see small scale, responsible tourism development working for them, then the country’s rich, natural resources could be protected more effectively. Study species A coral reef is composed of a myriad of species and it is impossible to name them all here. However, during our Reef Check surveys, we will be concentrating on a number of indicator organisms such as:
Sweetlips (a group of fish, belonging to a taxonomic family called the Haemulidae) Expedition work You will spend the first five days based at the chalet resort and training in and out of the water. The expedition leader and the local scientist will prepare you for your fieldwork tasks and explain the research methods and goals. Talks are organised to make you familiar with safety, the equipment, the research (and your part in it) and the area in which it will happen. Open water dives are organised so that everyone can get comfortable in the water again and put into action the fish, invertebrate and other ID skills taught before the actual survey work begins.Once you are trained up, we will move to the sailing yacht to be able to reach remote parts of the Marine Park and then your tasks will be predominantly dive-based and consist of several distinct underwater activities with the team split into buddy pairs. Depending on what your assignment is on the day, you and your buddy will, for example, be recording fish or invertebrates along the transect, what kind of substrate (hard or soft coral, sand, rock, etc.) covers the bottom along the transect, or sightings of megafauna such as turtles, dolphins and sharks. Covering a transect will take you about one hour and you will dive up to three transects per day. During the course of the expedition, you will be laying transects in different locations all over the reefs. Research area Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres. The country is separated by the South China Sea into two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo (also known as West and East Malaysia respectively). The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population of Malaysia is around 28 million.Malaysia is a megadiverse country, with a high number of species and high levels of endemism. Two thirds of Malaysia is forested, with a large amount of lowland forest present below an altitude of 760 metres. East Malaysia, like most of Borneo, was traditionally covered with Borneo lowland rain forests although much has been cleared causing wildlife to retreat into the upland rain forests inland. Besides rain forests, there are over 1425 square kilometres of mangroves in Malaysia, as well as the numerous coral reefs described above. The expedition will begin and end at the chalet resort in Tekek village on Pulau Tioman. During the second phase of the expedition, the research vessel yacht will circumnavigate the main island in the Marine Park and visit most of the other eight islands, enabling the expedition to reach seldom-visited dive sites and conduct surveys at hard-to-reach places. Partners On this project Biosphere Expeditions is working with Reef Check, the Department of Marine Parks of Malaysia, local dive centres, businesses & resorts, the local community, the University of Kebansaan Malaysia, the National University of Singapore, Hong Kong University, as well as sharing data with the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN).
Maps
Pictures
Video
PressWe have not had any press coverage of the Malaysa expedition yet. The articles below are from two other dive expeditions (Honduras and Musandam) by Biosphere Expeditions. Musandam
Honduras
Feedback
"Surveying coral reefs is, rightly, becoming more commonplace, but getting to hard-to-reach-places with a large enough team to obtain quality, useful data is still a challenge. These data are essential for getting a full picture of processes and impacts in the ecosystem to feed back to the managing authorities and scientific community. With Biosphere Expeditions, our research vessel and dedicated volunteers, we can not only do that in Pulau Tioman, but also spread awareness and increase education on a wide variety of marine conservation issues within local and global communities."
“Everyone was lovely and made the first week of the expedition very pleasant. Katie, Paul and Hylton were extraordinary! Made every second absolutely amazing. Can't thank them enough for such an amazing time.”
“Dive centre and yacht were both excellent. Katie is a very good Reef Check teacher and Paul a very enthusiastic leader.”
“The liveaboard experience worked especially well. I also liked the fact we were able to gain basic sailing experience. The diver training was great and I'm in no doubt that the Biosphere Expeditions staff has made me a better diver. They also imparted a phenomenal amount of information about Malaysian culture, wildlife, science and a host of other subjects."
"You have created something big with Biosphere Expeditions and I wanted to thank you for letting me be part of it. My experience with you was not only extraordinarily enriching and beautiful, but it has also put many wheels in motion in my life, amongst other things a new understanding of wildlife and nature, as well as a deep personal friendship. My expedition has been one of the most inspirational and formative experiences of my life. THANK YOU!” “This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to and itfelt like a real privilege to wake up here and go out diving with thescientists.”
“What a wonderful experience. One that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
“Congratulations for the Biosphere Expeditions idea and the way the staff carries it through with their enthusiasm. I came across you on the internet by chance and your information materials and the way my questions were answered persuaded me to dare come on the expedition. Once in the field my expectations were more than fulfilled. The team was great, as was the food and I gained a real insight into how wildlife research and conservation works on the ground. I'll be back!”
BriefingThe briefing contains very detailed information on this project, including instructions on how to get to the assembly point, what you will be doing whilst on the project and who your expedition leader and scientists will be. Briefings are provided as pdf documents and you must provide a name, country of residence and valid e-mail address to be able to download one. You can access briefings via the Download Centre.
JoinJoin this conservation holiday SCUBA diving and working on the coral reefs in Tioman, Malaysia - go on, you know you want to 
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