Hi Hillhead Primary

Hi guys, we have been out in Egypt now for three weeks and we're having an amazing time.  The weather has been very hot and sunny, the people are friendly and the coral reefs are beautiful!

So can you remember what the three areas on a coral reef are called?

Jen on the sandy part of the reef called....

What animals do you think you would find here?

Do you know why they are called green turtles?

Lydia & Jen photographing coral on what part of the reef?

Lydia & Jen looking at a sample of....

Can you remember what the pink paint was called & why it is important?

Looking down over the edge of which part of the reef?

Lydia & Jen swimming over the edge.

Do you remember any coral or fish species we talked about?

Well hopefully you have managed to get all the questions right?!  We'll check back with you with the answers and let you know how our adventure is going soon!!

Bye for now!

Meet our Egyptian Students

We are really excited to introduce 2 students from Suez Canal Univesity that will be invaluable to our research. They are Hanna Sarhan and Sherif Abdalla and to get to know them better here is a little insight to their interests and hobbies.

 

What are you studying?

Sherif: I am studying Marine Biology.  Specifically I am studying coral reefs, fish biology and fisheries. I am a post-graduate doing my masters in Artificial coral reefs. I am currently reading and preparing for this and in 2 months I will start to collect data in the Red Sea. I am thinking of using Dahab as my study location.

Hanna: I have just graduated from the Marine Biology Department. I like studying Marine behaviour and ecology and I am interest in applied sciences with behavioural ecology. I am interested in the fish behaviour and in particular in species that could be of use to human medicine. My masters project is investigating the hunting strategies within different species of goatfish and bird-mouth wrasses and I am currently working on experimental design and field observation.

Why did you choose Marine Biology?

Sherif: I chose Marine Biology because it is very exciting and it is a varied subject. At Suez Canal University few people study the sciences and this makes Marine Biology a challenge for me which is something I like. I chose Marine Biology also because I like diving and I love finding different species of fish and other un-known creatures. This year I have completed my Open Water Course and I hope to do a Dive Master because this will help me with the Masters.

Hanna: For me I was a good diver and swimmer as a child. At the beginning Marine Biology was the obvious choice for me but quickly I became interested in it. In our college the Marine Biology was not a popular department and hence this was a challenge. There was also the challenge of being female and I was the first female diver to graduate from the department.

What do you hope to get out of this expedition?

Sherif: I hope I can gain more experience diving (free-diving in particular) and snorkelling. Moreover I would like to learn new techniques such as using a quadrat, transect and GPS data-logging. These will be crucial in my Masters Project.

Hanna: For me this experience for 2 reasons. Scientifically for my career it will be beneficial as I will learn new methodologies and aspects of experimental design. In particular the GPS will introduce me to new practises. Another thing I hope to get out of this is to meet new people and network with other people involved in science.

What is your favourite fish and why?

Sherif: My favourite is sharks because their behaviour is still very much unknown and I would like to learn more about its behaviour. I like white and hammer sharks because they are the most dangerous and I would like to see these someday.

Hanna: My favourite fish would be the sea horse. They are monogamy meaning that one female and one male spend their whole lives together. They are also very useful for human medicine and can be used to extract cancer medication.

What job would you ideally like to do after studying?

Sherif: I would like to be a marine biologist after my masters. I would like to work in England or Japan because there is a lot of work being done there that interest me.

Hanna: My ideal job would be to become a marine scientist and behaviour ecology at the Great Barrier Reef in Australian or  anywhere near coral reefs. I would like to make a difference in the world and pass my knowledge onto other people.

What are your hobbies?

Sherif: I like to play computer games on my PS3 especially football games. I like football a lot and support AC Milan and sometimes Real Madrid. I also like reading books about science and currently I am reading about artificial reefs. I like diving and I hope to do more dives in the future.

Hanna: I like swimming and diving. I am a rescue diver and am training for my dive master. I also like biking and am part of a group that organises biking tours from Cairo. We invite people to join us and we are aiming to increase the popularity of biking amongst girls.

What is an interesting fact about yourself?

Sherif: I used to be an actor in films. I starred in 2 short films and 1 play. The films were ‘Waslet Desh’ and ‘Rakset el Moot’. The play was called ‘El helwa Dee’ and was  shown in Suez Canal University’.

Hanna: I can swim backwards when I am snorkelling and diving. I have also broken my ear drum when equalising on a dive.

Who is your favourite scientist?

Sherif: My favourite scientist is Dr. Hamed Goher. He is a very famous Egyptian scientist who was the first to study Marine Science in Egypt and has laid the foundation for research in the Red Sea. I am particularly interested in his work on sea cows and other large marine mammals.
Hanna: My favourite scientist is Benjamin Franklin and also Albert Einstein. Benjamin Franklin famously said ‘“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”  He also once said “My advice is to never do tomorrow what you can do today”. These quotes are very meaningful to me and I like to live my life by these principles.       

What is your favourite song?
Sherif: My favourite song is 'My Immortel' by Evensces. I like a lot of rap music and I also listen to a lot of English and Turkish music as well as Egyptian music. My favourite Egyptian singers are Mohamed Mournir and Amr Diab.    
Hanna: I don’t have a favourite song but I love the symphony and quiet music. I would also really like to learn to play the violin.
 

If you could be any animal what would it be?

Sherif: If I could be anything I would be a pit-bull dog. They are very strong and I like to think I have a similar personality.

Hanna: I would be a gazelle or a Chinese tiger. They are very unique and beautiful.

Laying down our skills

As an economics student I never thought when coming to Uni that I would be swimming a 25m coral transect in the Red Sea! Yet this was the scene yesterday as the whole team took to the Lighthouse Reef to practise data collection methods. With Lydia & Jen as our teachers we were in good hands, although they made it look so effortless. It took a while for the rest of us to get to grips with collecting data and snorkelling at the same time, so much so that Michael and Guy took to the water for an early morning practise dive at 6am the next day to eradicate some buoyancy and breathing issues (Michael’s feet still continue to sink!).

 

The first method we tested was line intersect sampling for coral. We laid out a 25m transect using a tape measure, with surprising difficulty, although with the help if a few hair-bobbles we managed to successfully set up the transects! We then swam along the transect noting down on the slates every change in substrate, from sands, rocks and all the various types of coral. We have been busy learning all the coral and fish species in English and Latin and this was a great opportunity to put this into practise.

We then moved onto line point sampling whereby again we laid down a 25m transect and swam along it but this time only noting down the substrate at every 50cm intervals. This was a lot easier and quicker albeit less accurate.

 

The last method we used for coral analysis was the quadrat method whereby quadrats were placed carefully as to not damage the coral at random points along the reef. We then took it in turn to note down percentage cover and coral species for every individual square paying attention to whether it was dead or alive. This was a lot harder than it first appeared as we kept floating away from the transect due to the strong underlying currents.

For fish species sampling we lined out another 25m transect and practised snorkelling very slowly (more like drifting….) along the transect at around 10m per minute as this is the optimal speed in order to be able to identify and note down species I.D. This time we attempted to note down all the fish that came within a 5m width range (2.5m either side of the transect line). This provided its problems as not only are you trying to achieve the right speed but trying to work out if fish are leaving and re-entering the transect in which case they need to be discarded from our data.

Throughout the 2 snorkels we paid great attention to our buddy pairs; swimming the transect next to one another, keeping eye contact to ensure we were always within a safe distance. The day was not complete until a full de-brief was done where we went over the different methods and their pro’s and con’s  with regards to our projects.

 

Michael

You can have a look at the pictures here....

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.649592981736571.1073741829.520396994656171&type=3

The Beginning

Three snorkel trips made, 50 species noted, 30 falafels eaten and it’s only day two.

All six of us - Lydia, Emily, Michael, Guy, Anna and I - made it safe to Dahab on Saturday evening and were straight away treated to Egypt’s warm hospitality (and climate!). The clear starry sky and mountainous dunes made the drive to the hotel very memorable.

Day one was straight down to business - getting kitted out, exploring the area, safety brief, snorkel brief, project brief…you get the idea, lots of briefs! Then it was straight out to practice our snorkeling skills. I think it’s fair to say the girls out preformed the boys but of course they blamed their equipment and a second snorkel soon sorted them out. Everybody had a great time getting to know the fish and coral species we will be concentrating on in the next few weeks. 

Exploring the town

Kitted up, waiting on the boys as usual

Day two started with a hearty breakfast and more briefs. We were asked to go snorkeling with Sheikh Salem - Bedouin tribe leader and co-owner of the research and dive centre. This was a real treat and we were super impressed with his diving skills! 

Heading out for a snorkel

Showing us how it's done

We even have briefs in the sea

The abundance of fish and coral at this snorkel site was amazing - butterfly fish, puffers, anemone fish, parrot fish, wrasses and even some trevally and snappers! Not to mention the diverse coral cover, anemones and other invertebrates. Soon the waves got a bit too much for some of us (Emily…) and we called it a day.

An Indian bird wrasse

Trevally in the deeper reef

Masked puffer amongst some branching and massive corals

Indo-Pacific seargent with some pretty pink finger coral in the background

Right now the sun is shining and we are busy preparing for snorkel #4 which will be to practice identifying fish to species level. Tomorrow will be our busiest day yet with a 6 am start to find the perfect project locations and to practice swimming transect lines. It’s hard work, but so far we can’t complain…

OK!

Jenny x