Introducing… CURious2Dive

As said before, we couldn’t organize the SECORE workshops without the help of our valued funders and partners. Last but not least, we would like to introduce CURious2Dive to you. CURious2Dive is the only WOSD, IAHD, PADI and SDI dive center on the island. Their credo is: ‘If you’re able to breathe, you’re able to dive’, and they’re … Continue reading »

Introducing… Atlantis Diving

As said before, we couldn’t organize the SECORE workshops without the help of our valued funders and partners. Today, we would like to introduce Atlantis Diving to you. Atlantis Diving opened in 1989 and is one of the oldest PADI dive centers of the island. They offer all PADI dive courses, as well as re-breather courses and DPV dives. … Continue reading »

August 9 – Clean up morning, SECORE video at the Sea Aquarium and visit to Willemstad

Clean up morning With the workshop almost over, the time had come to do our chores. All participants had to tidy up their apartment and pack their bags, and we also needed to clean the laboratory at the Sea Aquarium. We were just in time to see the brand new LCD monitors that the Sea … Continue reading »

August 8 – Island tour, kayak tour and larvae transport

Island tour To stay for 10 days on Curacao, not being able to enjoy the beauty and the culture of the island would be a shame. Therefore, and as a reward to our hard-working group of participants, we have organized a small island tour. Our first stop was the Savonet Museum, located in a completely renovated … Continue reading »

August 7 – Outplant workshop: reintroducing juveniles into the reef

Today (August 7) was the outplant workshop, a memorable moment! After all, reintroducing the juvenile corals into the reef is an important step within the SECORE program. Ten tiles were prepared by Valérie Chamberland and together with Mitch Carl, she demonstrated the group where to place the juveniles and how to attach the tiles to … Continue reading »

August 6 – Outplant training dive, exhibit workshop and last spawning night dives

Outplant training dive This afternoon, a small group made an outplant training dive at the Sea Aquarium reef to test if epoxy can be used to keep the tiles with juvenile corals in place. It was sad to see how much damage the storm has done to the reef and the corals. Lots of Elkhorn … Continue reading »

SECORE is ready to expand its work to other areas in the world

As mentioned before, the SECORE Foundation wouldn’t be able to organize the SECORE program without the help of our valued funders and partners. Today, we would like to introduce you to Clyde Woodburn! Clyde is a Board Member of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Through the Clyde and Connie Woodburn Foundation, he has been a funder … Continue reading »

August 5 – Stormy weather… and exhibit workshop

Even though the tropical storm Ernesto is passing by in a safe distance of Curacao, it is still influencing the weather on Curacao, causing strong winds and high waves. If you’re diving in deep waters, you might not experience so much trouble, but to dive on the shallow reef – where most Elkhorn coral colonies … Continue reading »

Coral spawning and research news from Florida!

SECORE workshop program helps to spread coral conservation The SECORE workshop program aims to train participants in a way they can set up similar initiatives elsewhere. Ryan Czaja, Ramon Villaverde, and Allan Marshall – all participants of former SECORE workshops – have done so in Florida. Ryan has sent us some notes and pictures of … Continue reading »

August 4 – Visit Chapmen, brooder workshop and second spawning dives!

Since there was no spawning the past night and thee was no lab work, we had time to visit the Chapman research vessel. It’s a former NOAA ship, used for  fishery and marine resource research. Substation Curacao N.V. purchased the ship and refurbished it to operate with the Curacao Substation in tourism and science. Laureen Schenk … Continue reading »

August 3 – Visit CARMABI research center, Brooder collection dive and first spawning night dives

Visit to the CARMABI Research center In the morning, we visited the CARMABI Foundation. As you might know, CARMABI is the abbreviation of Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity. Paul Stokkermans, general director of CARMABI, gave us a very nice welcome and introduced us to the diverse work the foundation does. At present the foundation runs a Natural … Continue reading »

August 2 – More lectures, an afternoon training dive, as well as the first night dives!

Brooder and dolphin lectures This morning started with a lecture of Bob Snowden about brooders. He explained why it’s useful to work with them, which Caribbean / Atlantic species are of interest and how they can be collected. Later this week, Bob will give a workshop ‘Brooders and techniques’  so participants can learn hands-on how to … Continue reading »

August 1 – Check dive #2 and Public lecture evening

Dive safety is very important, so we always perform a check dive with our new participants. That way they can get accustomed to diving in the open sea, get acquainted with the collection dive site during the day, see where the marker bottles are placed, and get to know the safe entrance and exit points. Meanwhile, Dirk … Continue reading »

August 1 – Lecture morning!

Yesterday evening, all participants of the workshop had arrived and we enjoyed a nice icebreaker barbecue at the SECORE mansion. This morning is devoted to sharing knowledge by lectures. After a word of welcome, Mike Brittsan introduced the SECORE Foundation, the funders and parters if this workshop. He explained the participants about the Acropora restoration project … Continue reading »

July 31 – Arranging dive gear and check dive #1

First thing in the morning, we went to Atlantis Diving to arrange the dive gear, tanks and weights. Since we have a pretty large group of participants, it is a large quantity of dive gear, and we are very pleased Atlantis Diving supports us with this. After everything was loaded up into our two buses, … Continue reading »

July 30 – More preparations

The day started early with running quite a few errands to get everyone together for a short meeting with the SECORE crew. We went through the workshop, diving and lab work schedule with Valerie and defined what still needed to be done in preparation. Bob demonstrated the new spawning nets, which are based on the … Continue reading »

July 29 – Arrival & first prepararions

Yesterday (July 29), the first members of the SECORE team arrived on Curacao. Unlike other years, all the luggage arrived at the same time, so we’re very happy! After arranging the cars and settling in the apartment, Valerie Chamberland (Phd student at CARMABI and the University of Amsterdam) joined for a nice local dinner at … Continue reading »

Only a few more days to go until the annual coral spawning field workshop in Curacao!

This is the third coral spawning field workshop as part of our 5-year Acropora restoration project in Curacao. This project aims to better understand sexual reproduction of corals and develop new restoration strategies to help save endangered corals, such as the Elkhorn coral. A coral culture system has been built at the Curacao Sea Aquarium that harbors coral … Continue reading »