Reef Check Community Connection

I work for a local wildlife conservation charity in the UK so I am very aware of the decline in our biodiversity and the importance of protecting wildlife habitats. I am so inspired by nature, that my working life has lead me to inspire others, supporting people to re-connect with nature which brings benefits to people's health and wellbeing.

I have always been lucky enough to travel and re-kindled my passion for scuba diving about 10 years ago. I found Atelier Aquatic was offering opportunities to support them carry out reef surveys in Port Barton in the Philippines, so within my holiday I decided I would get in touch with them. What a lovely and kind team, they explained the process, what the key indicators we were looking for (both good and bad) and down we went. Although I may have had some experience in survey monitoring, it has been a while, and I have to admit my knowledge of global marine wildlife is limited- I learnt so much!

I have to quote David Attenborough “no one will protect what they don't care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced”. Atelier Aquatic not only offers opportunities to take part in reef surveys for people to 'experience', they also have some fantastic educational art programmes that engages the local community. As I already said, I am very lucky to be able to scuba dive to see the wonderful wildlife (but also see the decline in marine species that we desperately need to protect). Many local people cannot afford to scuba dive and see theses wonders and the decline it faces, so, Atelier Aquatic help local people 'experience' the underwater by providing community projects that engage, are creative and inspire everyone about the life under the sea. I had a great experience, thank you to all the team.