Conservation

The Data: Fiji

During the 2017 Fiji Expedition on board the m/y Ad-Vantage, Project Baseline volunteers conducted a series of dives to collect data that will be used for scientists to study the health of the area compared to other reefs in the South Pacific and other parts of the globe.

Published

4 years ago

December 5, 2018

InDepth

Click the image to view a gallery of several different corals/reefs around Fiji.

“Passions provide purpose but data drives decisions.”- Andy Dunn

During the 2017 Fiji Expedition on board the m/y Ad-Vantage, Project Baseline volunteers conducted a series of dives to collect data that will be used for scientists to study the health of the area compared to other reefs in the South Pacific and other parts of the globe. Temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, video transects, detailed documentation of specific coral colonies, along with sample collection and preservation were conducted by a team of technical divers, open circuit science divers, and a submersible. The data collected is being analyzed by a graduate student from the University of the South Pacific. To view, the data visit our database and our YouTube channel.

To read more about the project, see our article on Establishing a Baseline for Fiji’s Coral Reefs, or view our story map.

This is the dive profile for the mission at Alacrity Passage. The temperature is recorded on their dive computers as well as on a data sonde that is carried by one of the dive team members.

Both the rebreather team and the submersible were equipped with data sondes that continuously measured the salinity, temperature, and depth of the water at one-second intervals. The rebreather team’s data sonde was also equipped with pH and dissolved oxygen sensors.

The data was downloaded and plotted to depict how those parameters varied from site to site and with respect to depth at every site. These data will provide other important baselines for coral reef conditions in Fiji from which change through time can be identified, quantified, and hopefully acted on.

Top Image Photo Credit: Rob Wilson, Frontline Photography.

The Project Baseline initiative is driven by data collection. With an online spatial database that hosts the collection efforts of over 100 teams in over 30 countries, anyone can access the temperature, visibility, and images from these aquatic locations.

Up Next

Establishing Baselines for Fiji’s Coral Reefs

Don't Miss

Mental Models: Decision-making isn’t as logical as Lego

Click to comment

Conservation

DAN Europe’s Sustainable Tour

Published

4 weeks ago

June 1, 2022

InDepth

Caring for the Ocean starts by taking the right steps on land

Why CO₂ matters

The ocean has the capacity to absorb CO^₂ from the environment. When excess CO^₂ dissolves in seawater, it causes an acidity increase. This is known as Ocean Acidification.

This phenomenon, coupled with other human factors, is destroying marine ecosystems and impacting many ocean species, especially organisms like oysters and corals. We must drastically reduce our CO^₂ emissions if we want to maintain a healthy ocean and a planet fit for our survival.

To raise awareness, DAN Europe Ambassadors are traveling across Europe and its surroundings in an electric vehicle (recharging it only with renewable energy), meeting with stakeholders and the entire diving community to—literally—drive the change we all need.

25,000 km of new opportunities

From 2021 onwards, DAN Europe has included helping the diving industry to take a more sustainable path, in its own sustainability plan

The Sustainable Tour was born as the result of paying attention to the major threats facing our playground as divers. It’s an environmental education project aimed at dive centres, which seeks to raise awareness about the close relationship between Climate Change and Ocean Acidification.

Last summer, the Sustainable Tour traveled 25,000 km carrying its message through 17 European countries.

These were the results:

70+ meetings with sustainable change leaders
30+ private companies
30+ diving centres & clubs
15+associations working for ocean conservation and sustainable mobility
40+ press mentions In seven different languages
33 blogs
15 Instagram (IG) Lives
5 lectures: marine conservation
5 Live interviews for the diving industry media
1 Podcast: Hyundai “Are we there yet”

This is no time to stop—we must keep driving for Ocean Conservation!

In 2022, the Sustainable Tour returns, and this time it is the UK’s turn! DAN Europe Ambassadors will tour the entire territory, visiting some 50 dive centres in the area.

The programme will include:

Conference: “The link between Climate Change and Ocean Acidification”
Special activity with prizes: “DAN Europe by the sea contest”
Dedicated Events: Medical Research while Diving Against Debris

The role of DAN Europe in Ocean Protection

DAN Europe exists to assist and protect all divers through the most extensive and reliable network of diving physicians worldwide. We offer the community numerous pioneering services, including the first-ever insurance designed specifically for divers.

Diving safety is our motto.

Nowadays, knowing how critically threatened marine ecosystems are, we cannot talk about diving safety if we do not talk about ocean safety too.

If we do nothing, letting CO² levels continue rising, by 2050 most coral systems in our oceans will be gone. Divers will no longer find any of the wonders shown by Cousteau, and if no one wants to dive any more, even our very existence as an organisation who cares for divers would be pointless.

We recognise the unique beauty and fragility of the Blue Planet and act as ambassadors for more sustainable practices within the diving community.

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.”
—Native American proverb

We recently asked a group of children what they wanted to be when they grew up. Their answers astonished us.

We remember that when we were little, whenever someone asked us this typical question, we would immediately go through the repertoire of known professions in the world and choose the one we thought was the most fun at the time, maybe a pediatrician or a teacher.

This does not seem to be the case with the children of this new generation.

Most of the children immediately responded: “When I grow up, I want to save the planet and the ocean.”

Future generations deserve more from us. We need to act now!

Join us along the way as we meet stakeholders and the whole diving community to boost the change we all need: www.sustainabletour.eu / IG @daneurope / Twitter @DAN_Europe / FB DAN Europe (Divers Alert Network Europe) / LinkedIn @DAN Europe