(in reverse chronological order)

Fleurieu Scuba Club Commence the training program

Nine members of the Fleurieu Scuba Club undertook the fish identification dives at the Bluff, Victor Harbor, on Saturday, 25th October. They were the first group to use the new version of the Reef Watch fish slates. Between them the group identified about 30 species of fish (including 24 of the 36 on the Reef Watch slates).

Viv with a fish slate	A rainbow cale came out with the sun
A white-barred boxfish (identified by Ron Charles)	Debriefing at Yulke's

Reef Watch training program - Bobby Rice graduates

Christoper Deane, Jo-anne Klocke and Arkellah Lawless joined the training program, Tim and Maggie progressed further and Roberta "Bobby" Rice completed the program, while Kevin Smith (an experienced Reef Watch diver) assisted as a divemaster.

A successful day for Bobbie	A wet and happy group
Jo-anne	Chris

SODS back in the water

The Southern Ocean Divers Social Club (SODS) undertook their benthic quadrat training on 27th April.

Before descending	A cuttlefish and some "BLEATH" algae.

Reef Watch training program - More Graduates

Four more divers - Steve Cally, Dave Deane, Rona Spicer and Mike Tokley - graduated from the Reef Watch training program on Sunday, 16th March, at Carrickalinga, completing the PADI Reef Watch Survey Diver specialty course. A number of other divers were commenced or progressed significantly through the training program.

The Graduates

Maggie	Tim
Greg Perry from Dolphin Dive	Julia puts the fish identification experience from Yorke Peninsula blue groper surveys to good use.

Reef Watch training program - Graduation !!

Four divers graduated from the Reef Watch training program on Sunday, 16th February, at Carrickalinga, completing the PADI Reef Watch Survey Diver specialty course.

The Graduates

Kevin	Gerry
Dave	Ali

Reef Watch PADI training program - Second Valley

On Monday, 27th January, more divers completed the fish identification or quadrat training and are now ready to progress through the PADI Reef Watch Survey Diver Specialty Course.

Ric B, with Second Valley in the background

New hands and old - some new fish identication graduates (Bobby, Jordan, Mat) along with Gerry Butler, who has in a short time gained a lot of Reef Watch monitoring experience.

Reef Watch PADI training program continues at Port Noarlunga

On Friday, 17th January, more divers completed the quadrat and fish count training and are now ready to commence the training on line intercept transect (LIT) training.

Ali - the water baby	Dave tries a vertical quadrat
Steve Cally checking a small patch of sponge	Gerry, now a qualified quadratter, prepares to collect more data

Reef Watch Training Dives at Encounter Bay

The PADI Reef Watch training program is picking up new recruits every dive, and some of the pioneers are now moving rapidly through the program.

On Sunday 12th January, Reef Watch shifted its attention to the Bluff at Victor Harbor, an area within the proposed Encounter Marine Protected Area (MPA) study area. Reef Watch is planning to take a very proactive role in providing baseline monitoring that will assist with the future management of the MPA, regardless of the form it takes.

Despite an unfavourable forecast, conditions were more than adequate for the task at hand. There was a mixture of experience present, with some old hands of the Reef Watch program spotted doing some fish surveys nearby, while others commenced their training program with a fish identification dive. There were some surprises, including a diving shag, a seal lion and this male leafy laden with eggs closely followed by a cowfish (but not closely enough to fit in the photo :-(.

Some of the group continued on to do their benthic quadrat training. One of the key points learnt was the importance of random placement of the quadrat on the reef, as any attempt to locate it around interesting features will distort the analysis of the data and make some species appear more common than they really are. The idea is that with random placement, some of the less frequently observed lifeforms will eventually fall within someone's quadrat, sometime. Dave "Dingo" Deane is of course a man of integrity and this follows through with his survey data - but his randomly placed quadrat provided him with a bit of a surprise...

Dave "Dingo" Deane (or is it Captain Nemo?) pictured last year with another Reef Watch volunteer, Carol van der Pennen.	What's that inside my quadrat?
Dave's quadrat - 30% BBRANCH, 20% Octopus, ...	Dean Alcorn also finished the benthic quadrat training.

Reef Watch PADI training program continues

Further PADI Project Aware Fish Identification Adventure/Advanced dives took place on Friday, 10th January, at Port Noarlunga Reef. Some divers stayed on for a second dive and were the first to complete the benthic quadrat training.

Gerry and Kevin, the first divers to complete the benthic quadrat training.	Jane and Rosie prepare for their dive
Chris checks out the distinguishing marks on this sea sweep...	...as does Jane

Reef Watch PADI training program begins

The first PADI Project Aware Fish Identification Adventure/Advanced dive to be taught by Reef Watch took place on Sunday, 5th January, at Carrickalinga (south bay).

Rona.	Divemaster Kevin Smith.
Mike T.	Dave, and Mike G.
Some of the Fish Identification divers.	A magpie perch above a typical part of this reef.

Southern Ocean Divers' Social Club (SODS) commence their summer Reef Watch diving program

Without even waiting for the change of season, the SODS hit the waters of Port Noarlunga on a Novemnber Sunday morning to do fish surveys.

Greg intently eyes off a fish.	Greg showing off his new Reef Watch fish identification slate.
Pat and Heather also show off their kits.	Pat noting down the variety and abundance of fish at Port Noarlunga.

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