Great Resource & Training for Coral Identification

The Coral Identification Capacity Building Program is pleased to announce the release of our revised coral identification training resources - Coral Finder Toolkit 2.0 

Coral Finder Toolkit 2.0 is a proven suite of practical tools for learning coral identification in the Indo Pacific comprised of the Coral Finder, the Coral Hub website and the Coral Finder Toolkit disc. 

Of particular interest to reef people are the NEW revised and updated FREE training movies in English AND NOW  Bahasa Indonesia! The new movies have many improvements gleaned from our experience of training over 400 people in coral identification and are authored in high definition to provide superior visual detail when viewing via file or high bandwidth stream. 

CFT 2.0 coral ID training movies in English <http://www.coralhub.info/learn/coral-finder-toolkit-2-training-movies-english/>  http://www.coralhub.info/learn/coral-finder-toolkit-2-training-movies-english/

CFT 2.0 coral ID training movies in Bahasa Indonesia <http://www.coralhub.info/learn/coral-finder-toolkit-2-training-movies-bahasa-indonesia/>  http://www.coralhub.info/learn/coral-finder-toolkit-2-training-movies-bahasa-indonesia/


The Coral Finder  www.byoguides.com <http://www.byoguides.com/>  empowers students, divers, naturalists and researchers to ID corals to genus where it really matters…. underwater.  It’s Visual Navigation system overcomes the problem of growth form variation and provides a powerful cross reference back to Corals of the World for post dive follow up to species level.

The Coral Finder is supported by the Coral Hub website - a resource with a graded learning pathway for self-paced learning for beginner through intermediate to advanced level knowledge.

The Coral Hub website includes:
 • a free complete video training course (Training Movies: available in English and in Bahasa Indonesian, and Revision Movies) aimed at bringing beginners through to intermediate level coral identification anywhere in the Indo Pacific 
 • free downloadable self revision tools for people wishing to refresh their coral identification skills  http://www.coralhub.info/learn/self-testing-resources/ 
 • a jargon busting terminology tool (the Termigator) to simplify basic coral taxonomy  http://www.coralhub.info/terms/
 • links to deeper knowledge.

In summary the Coral Finder Toolkit:
 • empowers motivated individuals to teach yourself coral identification (or learn via a workshop with over 400 people trained to date)
 • contains accurate, plain language visual training resources
 • synthesises the basics of coral identification in a practical, engaging and visually rich way
 • is a “real world to theory” translator with a proven high (~80%) transfer of skills to the workplace

Coral Hub – Resources & Training for Coral Identification

Fiji's Reefs @ National Geographic Magazine

   

By Les KaufmanPhotographs by Tim Laman In the South Pacific a spectacular reef system takes an environmental walloping and lives to tell the tale. Scientists are listening closely.

Fiji's Reefs @ National Geographic Magazine

In Fiji, diving with big, hungry sharks - BBC

A surreal scene

In the crystalline waters off Fiji’s main island of Nadi, Scuba divers can take the plunge with a mind-boggling variety of toothy predators: tiger sharks, nurse sharks, whitetip reef sharks, lemon sharks – even massive bull sharks.

Pictured here, a trained feeder 25m below sea level pulls mahi mahi and tuna heads from a large green trash bin.



Without a cage or any protection, the diver dangles the meat before the sharks. And with that, the feeding begins. (Lia Barrett)



BBC - Travel - Slideshow - In Fiji, diving with big, hungry sharks

World's Best Scuba Diving in Fiji - Sport Diver

From seductive reefs covered in rainbow-colored soft corals to heart-racing encounters with blacktip and tiger sharks, it's no wonder divers are smitten with Fiji.

On some dives, the eyes say it all, and we’re all a bit wild-eyed as a silky joins the shark-feeding frenzy in Beqa Lagoon, sweeping in close, almost mischievously, before swimming off. Just when I think we’ve experienced our dive climax, a 16-foot tiger shark slips into the scene.

The hungry tornado of whitetip, blacktip, nurse, bull, lemon and reef sharks, plus a bundle of 800-pound grouper, clear the way for her entrance. Her imperial demeanor commands a respect that both fish and divers honor. 

She has the faded stripes of a mature Galeocerdo cuviera and a mangled dorsal fin — a scar from mating and a telltale sign she’s female. She glides over our heads and disappears as seamlessly as she came in. Now that’s how a lady makes an entrance.

Full article here: World's Best Scuba Diving | Fiji | Sport Diver