The Department Of Marine & Wildlife Resources

The Department Of Marine & Wildlife Resources

Monday, October 27, 2014

More Coral ID fun!

The best part of the Coral ID Workshop with Russell Kelley is the satisfaction of finally breaking through the barriers of identifying corals.  The Coral Finder Toolkit is genius! 


Years of conducting biological monitoring surveys, I have tried my hand at identifying corals, but I have failed.  This is mainly because I have applied the same techniques in identifying fish to corals: color and appearance.  Growth forms are complex as it is so it was easier to do so.  In the end, frustration led to the conclusion that all corals look the same.  Now, there is an adrenaline rush to identifying corals because there is no longer the frustration of saying : it looks like this, but it looks more like this...




The experience to learn corals was enjoyable and it was all thanks to Russell Kelley and Rachel Pears.  Thanks guys!  I'm game to do coral species for the next survey.  Like I said before, the Coral Finder Toolkit is GENIUS!





Friday, October 3, 2014

Coral Identification Capacity Building Program in American Samoa

Russell Kelley is in town!


Russell Kelley is the founder of the Coral Finder Toolkit and is in American Samoa to teach managers and biologists easy ways to identify coral species.  This tool is being introduced in the Coral Finder Toolkit Workshop from September 30 - October 3, 2014.  This workshop is being attended by researchers in the Department of Marine & Wildlife Resources, National Oceonographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Coral Reef Advisory Group (CRAG).