FDC IPB Holds Coralation VII to Preserve Pramuka Island’s Coral Reefs

Fisheries Diving Club, Bogor Agricultural University (FDC-IPB) held "Coralation VII" or The Seventh Coral Reef Ecosystem Monitoring Simulation on October 6-12, 201 in Pramuka Island and its surroundings. "There are 30 participants in this event, consists of 18 mentors and 12 young members or diklat FDC batch 36," said FDC IPB President, Regitri Darmawan.

This event is routinely held each year by FDC-IPB as a part of training for members. "The activities include data gathering of coral reefs, fishes and macrobenthos. The data gathered to identify water quality includes clarity, DO (dissolved oxygen), current speed, pH, salinity, and temperature. Besides that we also gather the data about social and economic conditions of surrounding community. This event has a purpose to preserve the coral reef ecosystem in Pramuka Island and its surroundings," explained the head of the committee, Gokson Lindun Situmeang.

The ecological data gathering was done by spreading a 75 meter-measurement tape in 3 meter and 10 meter depths with the radius of 20 meter with 3 repeats, with 5 meter interval between each repeat. The data gathering was done by three people with different specialties (coral fishes, coral reef, and macrobenthos). According to Gokson, the method to gather data of coral reef is called LIT (Line Intercept Transect), while the one for fishes is called Underwater Visual Census, and for macrobenthos is called Belt Transect. Data gathering about social and economic condition had the theme of influence of tourism to the life of locals in Pramuka Island. "The data gathering was done by interviewing tourists, locals, and institutions in Pramuka Island." (Ard)