Volunteering with a marine conservation project

[Edward3c]

Hi all,

Yikes, not sure whether to post this here or in the Marine science forum...

I'm hoping to hear from anyone who has taken a volunteering trip with any of the main organizations who do these things, like Blue Ventures, Coral Cay, Operation Wallacea & Reef Doctor. Were your experiences positive and would you recommend it?

I am in the *extremely* fortunate position of having a bit of time spare, and this looks like it might be a way of 'giving something back' at the same time as indulging my desire to dive my brain out! Really, really interested in hearing from anyone who's done something like this and hearing what they got out of it.

I have to be honest: what I'm a teensy bit worried about is it being a bit tame or phony. Like, I'm in my mid-30s and really keen on marine life and diving, and if I go somewhere that is really just aimed at students/gapyearers who are only just learning to dive with a few gentle nods to conservation then I think I'd feel disappointed. (NOT that I have any problem with young people, or reef monitoring - quite the opposite! - but I want something with subtance rather than something that turns out to be a thinly-veiled dive summer camp.)

Please post or PM if you have any comments or experience!

Suzie / nitrophila

Hi,

A bit late, but might be of interest to others.

Coral Cay have gone past their sell by date.

ReefCI operate in Southern Belize. I've been out with them twice and looking to go again.

Regards

[BSOD]

freshorangina (or anyone really) - any suggested listings of marine-focused NGO's/agencies?

As mentioned, I've been digging around off and on, but aside from the (now completed?) thresher shark project in the Philippines, most others I keep finding seem to fall in to the summer camp category. (Once again, I don't mean to belittle them, as they sound like they would've been awesome when I was younger, but they seem more and more not what I'm looking for nowadays)

Signing petitions, making conscious food/etc purchases, and so on are great, but I'd like to contribute more actively, given the chance.

[freshorangina]

I would start by making a list of where you would like to go. From there google the place + conservation, or turtle rescue, or marine biology, or whatever niche you might be interested in. If you have not done reef check before, you might want to see if you can at least get that through one of PADI's specializations. Another approach would be contacting marine biology departments of universities saying that you would like to volunteer to help with research. Depending on how much time you have you might also look up eco-jobs and volunteer or internship positions at marine protected areas. I totally hear you about not wanting the "summer camp" style experience. I still had fun with OpWall, but I thought it would be much more academically oriented and not full of high school kids. I really wanted to learn, but in the end I was more of a teacher than a student.

[Vlad T]

I have to second Edward on ReefCI. I had a very positive experience with them working on conservation in Southern Belize. The diving was incredible and it felt great to learn more about the reef ecology in Belize and do something positive to preserve it.

The staff is very knowledgeable and really goes above and beyond to make it a fulfilling experience. The best part is you're diving off an island, so you won't need to travel far by boat to reach your dive sites. After each dive, you return to the island where you can rest, eat and relax before the next dive. We went for 3-4 dives each full day we were there.

The staff there is currently working on documenting the overall health of the reef by studying conch, lobster and coral as well as other reef life. They are actively working to introduce the invasive Lionfish population as a food source for eels and other wildlife- which is very exciting work.

I'm already looking for time when I can go back down.