Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation
Providing science-based solutions to protect and restore ocean health
We have had many interesting dives within the lagoons around the Tuamotu Archipelago, but the Fakarava lagoonal habitats have been the most unique. There are thousands of small patch reefs that extend from the water’s surface to depths as great as …
Fish communities in the Tuamotu Archipelago have been much more diverse than in Society Islands, especially on the fore reef. The fish are not only more abundant, but they are larger overall, meaning greater biomass, which is good for reefs …
The Global Reef Expedition surveys aim to document what is happening on our coral reefs below water level, but on transit to our dive sites and in between dives, it is hard not to notice the abundant sea birds that …
On Wednesday, a group of school children from Fakarava came for a visit to the Golden Shadow. The crew showed them around the ship and Living Oceans Foundation Fellows told the children about the science and coral reef research that …
Scientific research is the bread and butter of the Living Oceans Foundation, but public outreach is another key component of our work. During the last two weeks that we have been researching in the Tuamotu Archipelago, we have been joined by a …
After two weeks, we’ve completed reef assessments around Rangiroa, Aratika, and Raraka and are now examining Fakarava. Tuamotu reefs are dramatically different from Society Islands. Besides the near absence of crown of thorns seastars (we’ve seen a handful in the …
There are risks in every work environment, so working on and around boats brings with it unique safety concerns. We stress safety at the beginning of every mission, and give reminders of various risks throughout the mission. In order to …
Several of the scientists on the ship are from the US and were obviously not able to make it home for Thanksgiving. This is a time when many of us would go home to visit family and have a big …
We spent three days at the beautiful Rangiroa atoll. If you read the Aerial Reconn blog, then you will know that this atoll is large. It is so large that when you are in the center, you are unable to …
Very few of us are fortunate enough to have opportunities to explore and discover the world, and I certainly consider myself to be extremely privileged to have the full time job as Captain of the research vessel Golden Shadow, living …
