Volunteer Research Assistant

Reef Doctor is a coral reef research, education and conservation organisation based in SW Madagascar.

We're looking for enthusiastic, dynamic people with an interest in marine conservation to become volunteer research assistants for our staff in Madagascar. This involves completing underwater fish, invertebrate and substrate surveys, placing experiments in the lagoon (habitat restoration, coral spawning outputs), helping to survey and implement conservational ideas (Fish Aggregation Devices and MPA's), fisheries surveys (fishermen's daily catch), and mapping coral reef areas. 

Other work also conducted by ReefDoctor staff and which volunteers could be participating in includes surveying of seagrasses, sedimentation rates within the lagoon, studies of local shark and turtle fisheries, and socio-economic surveys in order to discover the communities reliance on the reefs and associated reef organisms. 

What will volunteers gain: 

- experience of working in a physically challenging environment - fantastic diving experiences - learn basic marine biology and ecology principles - learn underwater survey techniques over a range of tropical habitats - Team building - Insight into expedition logistics and management - Funding experience - Practical and theoretical conservation work - learn about a new country and its people 

Voluntary research assistants are the key to our data collection process. They will learn a range of underwater techniques (line intersect transects, belt transects, quadrates, point line intercepts, sedimentation traps, settlement plates etc) and become proficient fish and invertebrate species identifiers. 

Skills required:

Overall we're looking for enthusiastic, dynamic people aged 18 and over with an interest in marine conservation, diving and looking to do hands on conservation work with local communities. Past conservation experience is not necessary as comprehensive training is completed on site however a basic diving qualification of PADI Open Water is necessary (we train volunteers up to Advanced as some sites are below the 18m Open Water threshold). An open-mindedness to new cultures and ability to live in basic living conditions is a must and some past experience living in a tropical environment is desirable but not essential. 

Commitment: We do ask volunteers to join for a minimum of 2 months so that volunteers have a sufficient amount of time on the project to fully understand and come to grips with conducting marine survey work and other conservational activities with the local community. Unfortunately we can not accept volunteers for longer then their tourist visa which is 3 months 90 days. 

We look only for 4 people per 3 month phase and we do want people who are enthusiastic about doing hands on conservation work (land and marine based work) rather then just coming for the diving. With 4 volunteers to 4 staff insures a good transfer of information between staff and volunteers and it also allows the volunteer to participate in all aspects of the project. 

The Next opening to join the project will be 15th January 2006 for a 2 or 3 month trip Please see out website for further joining times. SPECIAL OFFER - Join in Jan/Feb 2006 for either 2 or 3 month trips and receive a 30% discount on joining/training fees and certification to Advanced Open water for Free.