A warm hello from our Marine Discovery Centre at Landaa Giraavaru, a place that I am pleased to call my office for the past month.
My name is Gesa (mostly known as Gigi) and I am the new marine biology intern, supporting the Reefscapers coral team during their second spawning season of the year. My first few weeks on site were packed with new ideas, covering all parts of the Marine Discovery Centre, from turtle care to Artemia production and dolphin cruises – it’s always great to broaden your skill set!
A warm hello from our Marine Discovery Centre at Landaa Giraavaru
Monitoring our Reefscapers coral frames
As part of the coral team, I was introduced to the restoration and monitoring practices here, and quickly started guiding guests through the process of building their own sponsored coral frames. Corals tend to attract less attention compared to some of the more charismatic megafauna you find in the tropics; they appear to be simple organisms from the outside, so I enjoy sharing my passion for these very sophisticated invertebrates. This also gives me the opportunity to educate guests about coral bleaching, and the dramatic losses of shallow water reefs around the world.
Our artificial reefs are teaming with diverse marine life
One of my favorite species: Acropora digitifera
My day-to-day activities of collecting coral fragments and building frames allow me to familiarise myself with the local coral species – having previously worked on restoration projects in the Caribbean, I was astonished by the diversity of Acropora species you find here in the Maldives! (Check out our unique coral database to learn more!)
With spawning coming up later this year, we have been busy ticking off as many tasks as possible to get on top of our schedule, meaning lots of monitoring, building frames, and out-planting. This past month, we built a total of 39 frames (= 2674 fragments!) and our work was rewarded with the celebration of Reefscapers’ 5000th coral frame – what a milestone! (see Instagram video)
One of the main reasons I applied for the internship during this specific season was my interest in sexual propagation methods for coral restoration. Most of the eggs in the colonies around Landaa are still immature (white), but since I have never had the chance to witness a spawning event, I appreciate following the whole process from white to pale and finally pigmented eggs (at which point we expect them to spawn). To ensure that we don’t miss any spawning of frame or wild colonies, we go into the water in the evenings around every full moon and new moon to check for signs of bundling.
At the beginning of October, our coral biologist found a few colonies with pigmented eggs, and so we are anticipating this upcoming full moon… fingers crossed that I will be able to share my first spawning experience in the next blog post! (Meanwhile, you can check out our coral spawning diary !)
We are checking regularly for signs of coral ‘bundling’
If I’m not collecting, fragmenting, and counting corals or monitoring frames, I am helping with our turtle patients and guest tours. This involves guest talks, snorkel trips and dolphin cruises, and turtle-care days (feeding, weighing, measuring, and cleaning our three resident turtles). During my first month, I have mostly been shadowing guest trips to get a feeling for the different sites, but as the weeks go on, I am starting to take guests out by myself. It’s a good feeling to gain confidence and competence with the tasks and activities around the Marine Discovery Centre.
Here at Landaa Giraavaru, we are lucky to be located just a 20-minute boat ride away from the world-famous marine protected area, Hanifaru Bay, which hosts one of the largest feeding aggregations of manta rays in the world (specifically at this time of the year, due to the nutrient-rich water).
With the Manta Trust team making frequent trips to Hanifaru Bay, we can join ‘Manta on Call’ trips on our off-days. So, after years of dreaming about seeing reef mantas (Mobula alfredi) up close, I found myself in the water with hundreds of these gentle giants dancing around me. Oh, and a whale shark too… such a memorable day in beautiful Baa Atoll!
Turtle care day – health check, measure, weigh, clean.
![GESA Marine biology Internship Maldives [9190209] mantas](https://marinesavers.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GESA-Marine-biology-Internship-Maldives-7-mantas-800.jpg "GESA Marine biology Internship Maldives [9190209] mantas")
After years of dreaming, I get to witness Reef mantas in Hanifaru Bay
![GESA Marine biology Internship Maldives [9190209] manta](https://marinesavers.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/GESA-Marine-biology-Internship-Maldives-9190209-manta-800.jpg "GESA Marine biology Internship Maldives [9190209] manta")
Beautiful and majestic marine megafauna
As you can tell by now, my first month has not been short of exciting events and experiences, so why not add a World Record attempt into the mix! To celebrate 50 years of tourism in the Maldives, and increase awareness about the risk that global warming poses to the country, “Neyvaa 2” was organised as a World Record free-diving attempt, specifically “people performing static apnea simultaneously”. The Reefscapers team was among the 457 participants, and I was grateful for the opportunity to be part of the event! (The attempt has been submitted for review, pending an official decision).
See you in Chapter 2
Gigi x 🙂
Do you want to experience life as a marine biologist
here in the Maldives ?
Head over to our Employment page to read about the different ways you can work with us - full time, apprentice or intern.
And see more from our Interns in their very own words & photos as part of our Diary / Blog series.