Taiwanese diving instructors, marine affairs postgraduates, reef conservation enthusiasts, artists and even an actress attended CoralWatch’s first international workshop since its inception in 2002.
The CoralWatch Citizen Science Ambassador Workshop, hosted in Taiwan, was a collaboration between The University of Queensland, National Academy of Marine Research, the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology (NMMST), and the Institute of Marine Affairs and Business Management of the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology.
Senior Manager of CoralWatch at The University of Queensland, Diana Kleine, served as a lecturer at the event.
“I loved sharing my expertise and experience to promote coral reef conservation in Taiwan,” Ms Kleine said.
“The workshop provided an overview of coral reef and marine ecological conservation, and trained skills for CoralWatch marine monitoring, promotion of citizen science in the community, and included several practical courses on the logistics of development of outreach projects.
“On the last day of the workshop, a community event was organised with various activities in Manzhou, so that students could implement their new ambassador skills.
“This gave them the opportunity to share with community residents the importance of coral reef conservation.”
Dr Li-Shu Chen, curator of NMMST, has championed CoralWatch in Taiwan since 2018, and facilitated the event following her participation in the 2023 CoralWatch Ambassador Workshop at Heron Island.
"New Ambassadors are expected to bear the heavy responsibility of coral reef conservation in Taiwan," she said.
"These new CoralWatch ambassadors will effectively promote awareness of marine ecological conservation across Taiwan."
Ms Kleine extended her thanks to Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, Dr Wen-Sung Chung, for his support at the workshop.
“Dr Chung co-lectured and provided support for the workshop, including translation and local insights,” she said.
“His contribution to the success of the workshop was invaluable.”
CoralWatch's global database, which includes data from 448 surveys on 60 reefs in Taiwan, has been enriched by an additional 102 surveys since the workshop.
An online Ambassadors meeting is scheduled to plan ongoing outreach activities to further grow this number.
For more details, visit CoralWatch and the CoralWatch Taiwan Facebook page.
