Pacific Islands Marine Portal

The Coral Identification Capacity Building Programme (CICBP) in collaboration with the Fiji Locally Marine Managed Area (FLMMA) network, and the Institute of Applied Sciences (IAS) of the University of the South Pacific (USP), recently hosted a Coral Identification Workshop at the School of Islands and Oceans, Marine Studies at USP. The workshop was conducted in two categories; the Beginner Programme, which was held from the 2nd to the 5th of February, and the Intermediate and Advanced Programme from the 8th to the 11th of February.  The training aimed to:

•    identify corals to genus regardless of growth form
•    Understand the basic principles of species level identification
•    Apply these skills to resource monitoring

CICBP facilitator Lyndon De Vantier said, “We are here in Fiji to demonstrate a new tool called the ‘Coral Finder’ which is a 29-page book that you can take underwater. We’re trying to see if it works really well in helping people identify corals, so that the people here who are studying and monitoring coral reefs, or are trying to develop marine protected areas or Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs), understand how to identify them”. More