INDO UPDATE 8 – FIELD WORK, SURVEYS & DATA ANALYSIS
IN OUR BLOG CATEGORY “INDO UPDATE”, JANIS FROM THE MMF TEAM IN INDONESIA GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO THEIR WORK, WHICH IS CURRENTLY FINANCED BY OUR MANTAHARI PROJECT. THE EIGHTH EDITION IS ABOUT THE LATEST ACHIEVEMENTS WITH STEREIOMORPH SOFTWARE, TOURISM SURVEYS AND DATA ANALYSIS. ENJOY READING
Aaah May.. The beginning of the dry and high season here in Indonesia!
I hope the Mantahari Community has had a great month, and that the first two weeks of May have been treating you well.
Last month was a busy, busy month! We did a lot of diving to the south and northern sites within Nusa Penida, getting manta ray and turtle ID shots and measurements, while at the same time observing just how many tour boats are now visiting the manta sites. During the dives, we also saw other animals that we are excited about, such as the baby eagle rays that have been seen often at Manta Point!
As part of our sustainable tourism project, we surveyed tourists regarding their satisfaction and experience snorkeling with local snorkel operators here on the islands. Listening to other people's snorkeling experiences really got our brains working, and urging us to make a difference by improving the experience for tourists and manta rays. With results from our surveys and snorkel trip observations, the goal is to increase awareness and educate local snorkel operators regarding safe and sustainable tourism practices.
On land we kept busy sharpening our data analysis skills using the software R and SocProg. I also managed to measure my first manta ray using the stereo camera and the open-access software StereoMorph! It's always exciting and slightly frustrating when learning something new... But when you finally get it... It's so worth it!
By the end of April, the majority of people in Indonesia celebrated Eid al-Fitr', having most of us leave the island and brought our laptops home instead. At home, we worked on a lot of data processing, for both manta rays and turtles. We are also currently on the edge of our seats waiting for our new instrument that will provide more data on our reproductive ecology project to arrive in Bali. Despite the fact that the next couple of months will be fairly busy for us, we are excited to see the comeback of ‘high-season’ Lembongan, and we are looking forward to increasing awareness regarding sustainable tourism!
To learn more about our projects and support our work click the links! For more updates on our fieldwork sessions, follow us on Instagram (Microplastics and Megafauna, Marine Megafauna Foundation)
To close it off, as always, plenty of gratitude to the Mantahari Community for supporting our projects here in Indonesia. We couldn't have done it without you! – Janis Argeswara
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Indo Update, we look forward to your feedback!
