My (Brief) Life as a Marine Conservationist

September 18, 2017

Final group photo before leaving the island

Let's just start with stating that this is a long due post, and it is long.

In Malaysian public universities, you'll have to undergo Industrial Training (a.k.a. internship) at some point in your studies in order to graduate. The good thing is that we get to apply for any company or organization we like, and it feels somewhat like a job hunt.

As I have always wanted to do something, anything for the environment, I decided to spend my 2 months-long industrial training at Tropical Research and Conservation Centre (TRACC) right here in Sabah! Honestly speaking, I have not even heard of this organization before, nor the island that it is situated on. Thank you Google.

A little bit about TRACC, it was established about 6 years ago by the late Steve Oakley to mainly work on coral restoration in the bombed reef of Pom-Pom Island off the coast of Semporna. Staffed by enthusiastic people, many of the work done at TRACC are only possible with the help of volunteers from all over the world.

So what I've basically been doing for my entire stay is coral transplantation, though they prefer to call it 'coral planting'. It's an exercise where we mainly collect loose reef-building hard corals and fixing them onto concrete blocks called 'biscuits'. The biscuits are then placed at the North Tip nursery, which is just a nice spot for placing biscuits, no real underwater infrastructure there to grow a bit before being used to construct artificial reefs.

Close up shot of a coral biscuit

We make them in batches

We do occasionally get turtles from time to time as Pom-Pom is a nesting beach for turtles. The only turtles found here are the Green Turtle and the Hawksbill Turtle. We do nightly Turtle Walks when possible. The main difficulty is the communication between us and the local security force (PGA). I do get the feeling that they are the ones who poach the turtle eggs. Some officers are better than others obviously, but it is hard to crack down on the bad ones when the higher-ups are ~~also in on it~~ protective of their officers.

Turtle eggs

There is a turtle hatchery at Pom-Pom Island Resort with the resident Marine Biologist, Oriana in charge. Whenever there's a batch of hatchlings, we would be informed and we would release them into the ocean. It's always heart-warming to see all those newborn baby turtles making their way into the sea. I also find that looking at baby turtles have a healing and soothing effect on your soul.

Volunteers and tourists, waiting for the release of the baby turtles

Aren't they the cutest things?

Being a science intern, I was involved in many activities regarding the operations of TRACC. I got to experience all kinds of behind-the-scenes work that goes on to keep TRACC running. One of them is the crazy grocery shopping that happens every Monday and Thursday. Interns help out with picking up supplies from Century (a supermarket) which usually fills two trolleys and sometimes up to four trolleys. You'll have help if you're in luck and you'll have a fellow intern with you, but if not, you're in your own. Buying two trolleys full of stuff in your own may be daunting at first, but it certainly does make you stronger (mentally, if nothing else).

Needless to say, a lot of diving is involved throughout my stay. There is no limit to the amount of dives you can do every day, depending on the nitrogen level in your own body, of course. Us Malaysian Interns got to take up PADI diving courses up to Advanced Open Water level for free, because we definitely need the skills to carry out underwater work. We've met amazing instructors and dive masters that make you feel safe underwater. They're just some of the chillest persons you can meet.

In the short span of two months, I have completed 70+ dives, and that's just me being lazy to dive sometimes. If you are very passionate about diving all day, reaching the 100th-dive milestone isn't impossible. Of course, for a great diving experience, you'll need to have great dive buddies. Thankfully, I got the Intense Science Interns who made the whole stay a lot better. The five of us are all here to do our industrial training and we come from different universities. I am really grateful to have them by my side especially when I had a reverse sinus block and needed someone else to collect my data for me.

When sitting on a rope is too mainstream

Part of the responsibilities of a science intern is to do actual scientific work on the island. Undeniably, the limited infrastructure here limits the type of work that one can actually do. So mainly we have been doing biodiversity surveys of macrofauna. Presentations are also part and parcel of intern life as it is equally important to be educating the volunteers on basic knowledge about the marine environment, although I'm not sure how much they actually understood. Lectures can be boring if people are in a vacation mood.

The work here depends largely on the conditions of the weather, currents and also the boat. Despite our best efforts, it is sometimes hard to be on track, at TRACC (no pun intended). Though the message to bring home is to never give up, and everybody has room for improvement.

Not forgetting the social part of the conservation work, we did outreach programmes for the children at Kalapuan island. There is a settlement of Bajau Laut people on the island. They are known as sea gypsies and have been seafarers since the times of their forefathers, depending on resources from the sea for survival. As the term gypsy suggests, they are a stateless people. Though some still stay in boathouses or houses built on water, many have moved on land, staying on the coast or on the island.

Just look at them

The children are very friendly and I learned a fair deal of the bajau language from them. The very first word I learned is kandi is which means dimples. I guess my dimples are my trademarks. We gave talks about the importance of looking after the environment, especially the island that they are living on. We noticed that the children actually knew about these things. The problem probably lies with the lack of appropriate infrastructure or the influence of adults who rarely want to change their habits. I guess this is a theme that could be found anywhere in the world, even on a small island such as this. That said, Kalapuan is actually a very nice diving spot with an extensive wall starting from 18m. You definitely must dive there if you have the chance.

That about wraps up my short experience as a marine conservationist. Not a popular option I'll admit, you rarely make money doing this kind of work. But one thing I learned is that someone MUST do it, and that every small effort counts. Drive and passion are important to keep you going, but ultimately it is teamwork that can make marine conservation a success.

Feeling interested and wanting to do more? Visit TRACC's website and discover how you can do just that!