A scientific fish survey mission together with cooperative educational actions in Manado (North Sulawesi)
After the 2012 fish surveys in Lembeh and Tumbak (eastern North Sulawesi coast, Molucca Sea), this mission aimed at recording fish species on several sites of the north-western coast (Celebes Sea) in the Bunaken National Park and Manado area. We also responded to a request of the Thalassa Dive Resort and the Tongkaina Dive Tourism School, close to Manado, who wanted us to get involved in the biological education of their students. ...
The scientific mission The fish communities have been surveyed in two sites with the Fish Watch protocol, a specific survey method devised and used by Peau-Bleue association in many parts of the world: • Fukui Point, in the core of Bunaken Marine Park, a site dominated by healthy coral reefs, • And the Thalassa House Reef, a sheltered coastal area in Manado Bay with diverse soft bottoms, reef, seagrass and mangrove habitats. The diving team, placed under the scientific direction of Dr. Patrick Louisy, was composed of: • 14 French amateur divers belonging to Peau-Bleue association, • 5 dive guides from Thalassa Dive Resort, • 4 graduated students from Tongkaina Dive Tourism School. Thus, it is a fully international team who completed the surveys. All participants contributed to the underwater observations, fish species identification and scientific data record as well. Thanks to all!
The results Overall, 521 different fish species were recorded on the two surveyed sites! This is quite an outstanding ichtyodiversity, even in this area often known as the marine biodiversity golden triangle. 360 species were found in Fukui and 367 in Thalassa House Reef. Remarkably, only 206 species (40 % of the total) were common to both sites, which highlights significant ecological differences between these two areas only 13.5 km apart.
Educational actions In this field, the partnership started before our team arrived in Manado. Together with the Thalassa Dive Resort and teachers of the Tongkaina school, we prepared bilingual identification documents (English – Indonesian) about fish families and main marine living groups. These documents were subsequently found very useful to help the students and communicate with them. During the scientific mission itself, four graduated students (grade 3) were full members of the scientific survey team. In addition, two days were dedicated to familiarising younger students (grades 1 and 2) with fish identification and scientific studies. After a short theoretical training they engaged in field observation (diving, or snorkeling for grades 1) together with our team. Then, we worked together on identifying the fishes they observed in order to validate records that could be included in our scientific results.
We especially thank Simone Gerritsen (Manager of Thalassa Dive Resort, who also created together with a Dutch NGO the Tongkaina SMK Kristen Solagratia school) for her welcome and for giving us an opportunity to build privileged contacts with young Indonesian people. We also thank HermanSastrowijaya (guest relations officer at Thalassa Resort and teacher at Tongkaina Dive Tourism school) for his dedication to his students and to the welfare of our team. Thanks to the French tour operator Atlantides Plongée, who managed the logistical aspects of this trip. And of course, thanks to all of the people who participated in this scientific and human adventure (divers, students, dive guides, technical and boat crew, hotel staff...).
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