In their role as managers of the Nusa Penida MPA, diving and reef health monitoring skills are crucial for the effectiveness of the Nusa Penida Management Unit. With this in mind, the CTC team recently conducted training to build the scuba diving skills of the unit, and to expand their capacity to monitor and assess marine ecosystems, and collect and analyze data for an adaptively managed MPA.

The training was held from 23-28 of November and was a collaboration between CTC, BPSPL Denpasar and DKP Bali Province. The training was carried out in two stages: Open Water Diving training for 16 members of the Management Unit, and Biophysical Monitoring training for 14 members.

The Biophysical Monitoring training was seen as particularly important to the participants, who saw the need to build up their capacity in collecting and analyzing data in order to improve the effectiveness of the Management Unit. The training will help them to assess the condition of coral reefs, identify coral growth forms and genus, estimate fish length for biomass calculations, as well as to familiarize them with data collection methods. The CTC team was happy to see an increase in the capacity of these conservation area managers, who will soon be conducting biophysical monitoring in the Nusa Penida MPA.