Indonesia's Bangka Island, north of Sulawesi, sits along the Indo-Pacific's "Coral Triangle," which is second only to the Amazon rainforest in biodiversity. This is what makes me, part of a Reef Check Italia EcoExpedition, and thousands of other divers come here in the first place.
In the year in which researchers of a consortium, established by NOAA, XL Catlin Seaview Survey, The University of Queensland (Australia) and Reef Check, announced
the third global coral bleaching event ever, the coral reefs
of Bangka Island in North Sulawesi, Indonesia look like they are not affected at all by this phenomenon. These are the evaluations that come from the recent expedition that Reef Check Italia has carried out, for the fifth year, at the Coral Eye Outpost in Bangka.
Soft Corals and Coral Farming: an introduction in the Tropical Ecodiver course 2015
This year the course on corals identification and coral reefs monitoring approaches held from 26th of October to 2nd of November in the wonderful location of Bangka Island (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) surrounded by the huge biodiversity of Celebes Sea got for the first time a specific class on soft corals.
By Gianfranco Rossi, Reef Check Italia onlus
Chalinula nematifera is
a common Indo-Pacific encrusting sponge able to overgrow living corals. Distribution data of C. nematifera are fragmentary; its presence is documented as a potential threat for
coral reefs in the Mexican Pacific coast (Ávila and Carballo 2009).
Pulau Bangka is an Indonesian island situated in the heart of the area with the world's highest level of marine biodiversity, called "The Coral Triangle". Coral reefs are the main source of livelihood for the local population of 2,700 people, both in terms of fishing and tourism.
By Gianfranco Rossi, Reef Check Italia onlus
Coral reefs are among the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. You just need a diving mask to understand the value of this statement. Unfortunately, only few people realize that corals are
not just one of the components of this extraordinary variety of life forms and colors, but are themselves the true essence of the reef.
The Reef Check protocol was designed following the awareness that there were no adequate data to establish a “baseline” of the health of coral reefs of the planet. The advantage of the protocol consisted, above all, in the possibility of involving volunteer scuba divers, led by marine biologists, who could give a vital contribution to the collection of data otherwise not obtainable.