The first week of MIP-2016 is coming to an end. It has been a busy week, and even though today is Sunday we have continued working hard with a full agenda all day. And today we had a new classroom, with Divine Diving kindly inviting us to use their training room.
The day started with more data analysis and reporting exercises using R. The interns learned how to plot manta survey locations on a map, and how to perform simple spatial analyses. We used data collected during the past week using our MantaWatch Logbooks. The interns worked hard, and even though this was a new experience for them, they typed the commands into R, dealt with errors, and even managed to make a few jokes! This year’s interns are hard workers – not only completing their data analysis exercises but also completing their first week video diary on time. I was very excited to watch the video!
After lunch, the training continued with a focus on communication and creating press releases. The ability to create an effective press release is an important skill in conservation, helping us to spread conservation messages and awareness to people around the world and encourage more sustainable use of nature. We asked the interns to create a press release about an experience during their first week of MIP. Everyone chose a different topic, and afterwards we reviewed each others press release as well as a few example press releases. I hope this exercise will help the interns to communicate clearly and to identify their key messages.
Finally today we discusses oceanography, the moon phases and tides, and when is the best time to see manta rays in Komodo. Tri predicted that more mantas would be found during rising tide, while Retno and Rafid predicted that the falling tide would be more successful. Meanwhile Amelia felt that there would be no difference between falling and rising tides. Tomorrow we will try to test these hypotheses, with manta surveys during both rising and falling tides.
Before we finish for the day, we are off to Dive Komodo to prepare our equipment for tomorrow’s manta safari. Hopefully this week we will find some manta rays!
Retno and Ichsan study data analysis
