In 2017 team of marine biology, zoology and geography students traveled to the town of Nilaveli, on the East coast of Sri Lanka and stayed there in a house for six weeks.

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The main focus of the expedition was to collect a data set on coral reefs and their associated fish assemblages fringing the area of Trincomalee and Pigeon Island, a marine protected area. The team snorkelled to survey the shallow reefs and went scuba-diving for the deeper reefs, which were around 10 meters deep. The method was to swim along a randomly placed 20 meter transect line at a steady debt. Fish abundance was taken by video and coral cover by photographs. This baseline study can now be used for future expeditions to use for marine orientated honours and masters projects.

There were 2 Rescue Divers, 1 Dive Master and 1 Dive Instructor on the team before embarking on the expedition. One student acquired his Advanced Open Water certification and three students their Rescue Diver at the Poseidon Diving Sri Lanka.

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Out of the water, the team carried out beach clean-ups to measure the difference in micro and macro plastic abundance in exposed and sheltered bays around the Trincomalee area, a study that can also be build on by next year’s expedition. And they also visited local schools to indulge in Sri Lankan culture and in return teach students the basics on ocean conservation.

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