Turn of the Tide

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Today as the sun came up we made our way to the west side of the Vava’u archipelago. After about twenty minutes in the car we reached the small town of Koloa and turned down a narrow track that petered …

Green Snails: Valuable Aliens

By Alison Barrat and Alexandra Dempsey You don’t have to look too far to find a horror story about an invasive species that has completely disrupted a natural ecosystem. Cane toads in Australia come to mind or Pythons in the …

Scientist hard at work

Our scientists sure work really hard when aboard the M/Y Golden Shadow.  Here are some shots of them in action.

New Caledonia Field Report

Between, 26 October, 2013 – 26 November, 2013, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation conducted a research mission to New Caledonia as part of the Global Reef Expedition. The research focused on coral reefs in four locations, Ile des …

PVC Paparazzi

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My role on the LOF expeditions in the Pacific has been underwater photography. In addition to being on the lookout for interesting or beautiful subjects for the Facebook photo gallery or to illustrate blog postings, my primary duty is to …

Shivering for Science

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Cold Water Diving Shortly after sunrise the main dive boat, Calcutta, set out from Golden Shadow to survey a gently sloping spur and groove reef system on the south eastern side of Ill des Pins. The dive team and crew …

Unraveling Algal Biodiversity

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A key aspect of the work being done during the GRE involves the characterization of the diversity (number of different species) of different organisms – fish, corals, other invertebrates and algae. While species inventories for algae have been completed here, …

Amazing Algae

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The average person doesn’t get too excited about algae, which most know as seaweed.  It smells when it accumulates on the beach and rots, it can outcompete coral when left unchecked, and it’s generally considered bad for reefs, especially when …