Wetland Mapping



Marie navigating, Lisanne worried

Some wetland fun!!



This week new excitement is the wetland mapping!! The wetland at H hotel where the terrapin project is being held is now being mapped for the size and also the depth is being checked.

Michel,Lisanne and Marie getting ready











The small assignment started last week but due to bad weather it delayed the progress. During this week the two interns Marie and Lisanne has been making this a priority to get it done by the end of this week. Doing the depth measurement a small boat situated at the hotel is used to go around the wetland, instead of a paddle the boat is navigated by a long net which makes it interesting and a fun way to get around.


heading out

To measure the size or the outline of the wetland the process involves going around every five meters and a GPS point is taken along the edge and for the depth a measuring tape with a weight at the end is dropped then the depth is recorded on the GPS, this step is also repeated every five meters per transect.

Away they go....





This is expected to be completed at the end of this week and after that the data recorded will be analyzed in a specific programme giving a nice view of the outline of the wetland and the depth also visible. This result will and can be used for later projects such as removal of the invasive hydrylla. Lots of excitement for end results!!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A short story about corals #1

Image
Bonzour everyone, My name is Léopold and I’m the new intern in the Coral nurseries project at Le Méridien Fisherman’s Cove. I’m 22 years old and I’m doing my internship with the Marine Conservation Society in Seychelles (MCSS) for my master of “Marine Biodiversity and Conservation”. I first worked on the terrapins trapping in the South of Mahé and I joined the coral project last week.  I have to say that it’s really nice to be in Seychelles and to participate in this project. I used to be a scientific mediator in the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco during the Summer period. I remembered that it’s there, I really start to be fascinated by corals. The corals occupy less than 1% of the Ocean and they are still the host of approximately 25% of the marine worldwide biodiversity.  In a simple word, coral reefs are the underwater equivalent of the tropical rainforests. A true hotspot of biodiversity ! At first sight for most of the people they just look like a strange colo...
Read more

Happy 20th Anniversary to MCSS and ... Coral growing tanks opening!

Image
The 26th September was the celebration of MCSS' 20 years of work from whale sharks, sea turtles, beach erosion, marine mammals, wetlands and terrapins to coral reefs ! David and the five current project leaders (Inga Petelski, Savinien Leblond, Alessia Bacchi, Vanessa Didon and Chloé Pozas-Schacre)  gave a talk remembering all the various projects undertaken by the NGO since and presenting the on-going work.  This anniversary was celebrated at Le Méridien Fisherman's cove as this special day was also the opening of the first ex-situ coral nurseries in Seychelles.  David going through 20 years of work by MCSS Inauguration of the coral growing tanks in the presence of the Minister of the Environment, Energy and Climate change All the MCSS current project leaders, interns and volunteers Two coral growing tanks have been set-up next to the snorkeling kiosk. They are filled with filtered seawater and wil...
Read more

Crown-of-thorns removal mission!

Image
A Crown-of-Thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) The crown-of-thorns ( Acanthaster planci ), is a large, thorned starfish which lives along the shallow reefs of the tropical band of the globe. It has all the fundamental components of any other starfish - a central disk, perimeter by radiating arms - but unlike most, this starfish can have up to 23, regenerative arms (all of which can be replaced in the case of lost limbs) covered with long poisonous spines. Usually found ranging between 25 cm – 35 cm in its adult stage, some individuals can be as large as 80 cm. The crown-of-thorns is a carnivorous predator, feeding on live coral tissue by everting its stomach over their surfaces. As well as hard corals, they can also feed on soft corals, sponges and encrusting organisms. Their presence on a reef give slower growing coral communities (e.g. Favites ) an opportunity to flourish by preferring feeding on branching and plate fast growing corals (e.g. Acropora ) However, the large size o...
Read more