Data collecting at Koloa Landing, photo(c) 1996, Dr. Brian Tissot

Dr. Tissot and Coral Reef Monitoring on Kaua'i

A coral reef monitoring workshop was held on Kauai in July and November, 1996.

Dr. Brian Tissot, an Assistant Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, lead the sessions. The workshop was a abbreviated version of QUEST, Quantitative Underwater Ecological Survey Techniques, which teaches the methods and theory of monitoring coral reefs by the Marine Options Program at UH.

Dr. Tissot recently spoke at the Clean Oceans 96 Conference here on Kaua'i in June. He teaches undergraduate courses in marine biology, statistical applications in marine science, global change, marine monitoring, marine ecology, invertebrate biology and tropical marine research. He has received the Board of Regents' award for excellence in teaching. Dr. Tissot has served as a statistical consultant for a wide variety of state and federal programs and has developed new statistical methodology and written statistical analysis programs. His research has been conducted in California, Oregon, Mexico, Indonesia, Tahiti, Hawai'i, New Zealand and the Philippines. Dr. Tissot's work has been published in numerous professional journals as well as three textbooks.

Everyone was invited to attend this free coral reef monitoring and marine science workshop November 1-3, 1996. The Friday presentation was a slide show and overview, or the program and was held at KCC in Lihue. The Saturday presentation was at Kapaa Beach Park. After the morning information lecture, the group went snorkeling and practiced coral reef monitoring. In the afternoon coral reef monitoring procedures were performed from start to finish, and baseline data was collected off the swimming pool at Kapaa Reef. The goal is to establish a baseline of information for future studies, and to teach interested participants about reef ecology.

On Sunday morning, the workshop was continued with lecture in the morning and a dive in the afternoon. Sundays' events were held in Poipu at Prince Kuhio Park and Koloa Landing. The baseline data that was collected at these sites will be available on the Internet.

Brian Tissot and Carl Stepath (SOS Executive Dir.) welcome you to coral reef monitoring.

The vision for the workshop is to promote community awareness about the health and protection of Kaua'i's reefs through education. We eventually want to be a part of a global network of informed reefkeepers that will insure the well-being of coral reefs for future generations. This workshop provided the citizens of Kauai with a means with which to be part of the solution, and learn more about the neighboring coral reefs. Becoming aware and adopting a reef are ways to get involved in a positive proactive way. 1997 is the International Year of the Reef.

This coral reef monitoring project was sponsored by the UH Marine Options Program, Save Our Seas, Kaua'i Community College, and the Kaua'i Branch of the Sierra Club.

Anyone interested in QUEST (Quantitative Underwater Ecological Survey Techniques) and Save Our Seas project to adopt a reef program is invited to contact us at sos@saveourseas.org

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