23.11.16

Horse Shoe Crab Release




A short stop in Lahad Datu for breakfast around 6am today turned into another Marine-life Rescue Mission for TRACC. Two Pala'u ladies arrived at the morning market with 3 horseshoe crabs. Both of them hardly speak any Malay so couldn't find out the exact location where they caught these pre-historic looking creatures. 
Anyway, bought all 3 horseshoe crabs and took them to Pom Pom island. I personally have only seen one here last year but we have seen many small ones in Kulapuan. Hope the release of one big female and two smaller males will bring back the population of horseshoe crabs around Pom Pom island. Our staff and volunteers were so excited to have this rare opportunity to handle these living fossils and releasing them back into the sea! - Gon

Horseshoe crabs are easy to catch and are often found in the fish market. They don't have any "meat" to speak of and taste a bit like fresh seaweed (salty, rubbery, cold and disgusting).

Horseshoe Crabs are often called "living fossils". The earliest record of them is in the Ordovician period 450,000,000 years old and they haven't changed much since.

They're more closely related to spiders than crabs but have 10 legs rather than 8 and external gills like a prawn.

They also have a peculiar number of "eyes". There are two compound eyes where you might expect them to be, but then there are five additional "eyes" that have different resolutions and functions - two of them respond to visible light and three to ultraviolet. There are also light receptors along the tail that helps the Horseshoe synchronize its body clock with light and day. Finally, there are two ventral (on the underside) eyes near its mouth.

5.11.16

WINNER -- for the Energy Globe World Award 2016

TRACC.org working on coral reef conservation in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia has been chosen as WINNER in the Water category for 2016.  We were nominated in 2016 as one of the three finalists in the category water for the Energy Globe World Award 2016.  Thanks to the judges who had the difficult task of chosing between coral reefs and water shortages in Africa.




The Energy Globe Award is an important award for sustainability worldwide.

This year, EGA have received about 2000 applications from 180 countries. Out of the many great projects and inventions, the international jury has selected OUR project “ Restoring coral reefs to survive climate change ” as one of the 16 most outstanding projects worldwide. Our nomination in the final 3 projects for the category water was announced officially on 24th October on Energy Globe World Award 2016 website.

The award ceremony will be part of the UN Climate Change Conference on 10th November in Marrakech, Morocco.

THANKS TO ALL OUR STAFF & VOLUNTEERS  AND COMMUNITIES, WE MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT BUT WE COULDN’T HAVE DONE THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP.

Saving coral reefs is what we do – with your help –  so please pat yourselves on the back if you have helped TRACC and send a great big thank you :-) to all our supporters.



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Best marine science student in the world - 2nd year running.

The best marine science student in the world second year running, 2015 and 2016.
Well Done Christine (2016) and Tom (2015)  :-) :-)

best marine science student in the world
Classroom with a view. And excellent place to study.


TRACC teaching has recieved the fantastic news that for the second year, we have beaten all other students across the world to achieve the honour of highest scoring Cambridge Examinations Marine Science student in 2016.

The rest of the ALL STAR students in 2016 also did really well with only A*, A’s and B’s.

In 2015, we also manged the best marine science student in the world plus great results all round

Do you need great results to help get into University? Gap year or year out with a qualification!  Do you want to be a better Scuba divemaster or Instructor? Get more knowledge about the ocean through a professional, internationally recognized, Marine Science Course.
 
Why do we get good grades -  TRACC only offers one A level, Cambridge Marine science 9693 and we get excellent results.
Our record for A grades is 75%.  That's a whole lot of UKAS points if you want to get into uni, or its a good step towards your first year at college.

Scuba diving & Marine science lessons on a beautiful tropical island can get you a real internationally recognised Pre U qualification in a 14 week period of 2017.  The A level starts mid Jan 2017 and ends with the exams in late April.

For more info@tracc-borneo.org
http://tracc.org/marine-science-course-a-level-9693/

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