Project Baseline - Fiji

​

In May, 2017, Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) invited me and my NSU colleague Dr. Brian Walker to participate in a conservation initiative, Project Baseline, to document deep and shallow coral reef ecosystems in Fiji. The project also included a team of GUE technical divers from the United States and New Zealand and marine biologists from the University of the South Pacific (USP). I made eight dives aboard a Triton submersible to survey deep habitats and reached a maximum depth of 360 meters. The collected data, including scuba and rebreather surveys, will be added to an evolving Index for Ocean Health being developed by the UK-based organization Nekton.