Advanced Conservation (14 Days)

Whether you are a budding marine biologist or purely passionate about conservation, this 2 week course is curated for those who want to live a fortnight in the life of a conservationist. You will learn the key skills required of an in-the-field marine biologist, from taking data along transects to underwater photography to classroom marine biology and ecology lessons. By the end of this course, you will be familiar with widely used monitoring methodologies and the reef ecology that supports the ecosystem.

This course offers a holistic approach to marine conservation from understanding the ecological importance of coral reefs and understanding their threats and the solutions we employ to mitigate these risks. The science learned in the morning classroom sessions is applied on the afternoon dives and activities through multiple data collection techniques, resulting in data which will be analyzed and developed into a report and a presentation to give an outline on the health status of reefs on Koh Tao at the end of the course.

This course is open to Advanced Open Water Divers or higher certification and costs 29,000 THB.

This course lasts for 14 days (including one off day for relaxation and additional study) and begins with classroom sessions at 8am each day followed by lunch and afternoon dives (or other activities) related to the classroom content.

In-depth lectures provide the basis for active science dives where you will firstly learn species identification and the ecological theory of coral reefs and their modern challenges and solutions to declining reef health.
Science dives will teach you different data collection methodologies to assess species populations and coral health while plastic surveys, beach cleanups, and marine cleanups will help monitor the islands waste management which you will see first hand with a shocking visit to the island’s dump.
A special photography section opens up the world of marine imaging where you will be given the chance to present your own footage alongside a brief Koh Tao reef status report based on the reef health data that you collect on science dives.
Classroom topics will include: Reef Biology, Ecology, and Identification; Threats to the Reef and Biogeography; Survey and Transect Theory; Human Impacts on Marine Ecosystems; Solutions (such as artificial reefs and Marine Protected Areas); Shark and Turtle Ecology; Marine Plastics; Data Handling and Analysis; Waste (Mis)Management
Dive/hands-on activities will include: Fish, Invertebrate, and Coral ID; Reef Health and Composition Surveys; Water Testing; Marine Clean-up Dive; Beach Clean-up; Microplastics Survey; BRUV Survey; Marine Photographic Survey