A diver replanting coral near Pelong Rocks as part of a coral propogation project sponsored by HSBC and facilitated by SCOT and Poni Divers. Picture: Courtesy of Poni Divers
| NABILAH HARIS |
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Friday, December 26, 2014
PROGRESS of the Green Xchange H20 programme, currently in its final phase, is closely being monitored by its divers.
The GXH20, initiated earlier this May by the Society for Community Outreach and Training (SCOT), is an underwater clean-up project for dive enthusiasts.
The programme allows for registered divers to conduct coral restoration activities at popular dive sites such as the Pelong Rocks where the endangered blue coral can be found.
In an interview with The Brunei Times, SCOT’s Director of Human Resources, Noor Amal Azirah Azlan, said that more time is needed to yield results but they still continue to dive at the sites on a weekly basis.
Noor Amal who is also one of the divers with the programme said that as of now, the GXH20 divers are still collecting data on the growth of their corals and other properties.
“This could be considered the first of its scale in Brunei and with this method that we are using. There is no benchmark for it now, but we are very optimistic about this project. We continue to make strides with it and see how the results are until the following year,” said Noor Amal.
There were challenges involved in the process of the coral propagation dives, said Noor Amal, however, they eventually enlisted the help of an additional consultant to assist in the development of their project.
“The methods that were initially taught to us were very good but along the way we realised there were challenges that we did not take into consideration,” explained Noor Amal.
Apart from the dives, the team of divers has been giving talks on the importance of corals at several secondary schools to spread awareness of their programme and the current situation with Brunei’s marine life.
The programme, which saw HSBC present a $40,400 cheque to SCOT, was initially slated for a seven-month run but Noor Amal said that no timeline has been set on the progress of the GXH20 for now as it is uncertain when results can be seen.
The Brunei Times
Source: The Brunei Times
Author: Nabilah Haris
Published Date: Friday, December 26th, 2014