Home  |  In the Community  |  Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo

Learn how colleagues in Malaysia are saving clown fish and more

Forty RBC volunteers did travel to the beautiful Tioman Island in the east coast of Malaysia on a mission to help protect and restore the fragile coral reef ecosystem

Imagine Team RBC going on an adventure to find Nemo...

Ok, so maybe that was not quite the case, but 40 RBC volunteers did travel to the beautiful Tioman Island in the east coast of Malaysia on a mission to help protect and restore the fragile coral reef ecosystem. That’s quite cool too!

Check out what the volunteers did by hovering over the pictures to appreciate the beautiful life and colours of mother nature we need to protect.

Planting of corals and cleaning the frames

At the coral rehabilitation site in the Marine Park, Team RBC divers cleaned coral frames, removed dead corals and planted new surviving corals onto the frames. Corals will only survive when they have a base to remain on - normally on rocks or dead corals that turns into one.

Culling of Crown of Thorns (CoT)

At one of the smaller Renggis Island, RBC divers helped with removal efforts of crown-of-thorns (COT) starfish which are harmful to corals. An injection gun is used as a syringe to pump a mixture of vinegar into the COT which removes them within a couple of hours.

Underwater Survey

RBC divers were given a theory and practical course on how to do an underwater survey by Reef Check Malaysia. The divers learned to identify key indicator fish, invertebrates and substrates for monitoring and conservation of coral reefs.

 

Beach Cleaning

Non-diver volunteers collected close to 300kgs of trash from two beaches. A total of 724 plastic bottles were collected, which in numbers made up 60% of the trash collected. With the help of technology, Team RBC were able to easily log the types of trash collected by using a phone app called CleanSwell.

 

Constructing a recycle collection centre

Our partner Reef Check Malaysia has been conducting education and awareness programs for the local community at the island to contribute towards conservation efforts. Supporting their efforts, RBC volunteers made four more recycle bins out of wire mesh to be placed on beaches and other locations within the Island. Team RBC also constructed a recycle collection centre at Kg. Air Batang.