MES was privileged to host 2 media group at Castaway Island Resort and shared the conservation work taking place within the region. The 1st group being hosted was two journalists from Germany who is writing a story about Climate Change in build up to the United Nation Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP23) meeting that will be held at Germany from the 6-17th of November. Their focus is mainly on conservation work being carried out at castaway in relation to sustainable tourism and climate change.
One of the conservation programs that interest them the most is Coral Planting and its success stories. Coral planting is an on-going program that is carried out by the resort to promote the Outrigger O-Zone initiative with the mission to grow a football field of corals thus creating a positive impact to our vital coral reef ecosystem. The two journalists were content with the collaboration work carried out by MES and the resort in sustaining community and tourism through environmental protection.
The 2nd group was hosted again by Kolinio Mataiyaga, Field Technical Officer, together with the Kids Club attended and Castaway General Manager. The media group represent different media outlet that is keen on writing a story on their experience on activities offered by Castaway. Coral planting was one of the activities that they took part in where they managed to plant a total of 40 coral fragments. The coral planting activity took place along the beach which started off with a brief explanation from Mr Mataiyaga on the importance of coral reef and the initiative behind the coral planting activity. The group later placed the coral tray into the sea which will be monitored by the MES staff and transplanted onto the reef after 6 months. The media group then continued with the activities by joining Kolinio for a guided snorkeling tour to the coral farm and also to the clam farm.
The media group took photos of the clam and the corals and was very pleased with the status of the marine ecosystem. The group thanked Castaway Island Resort and MES for working towards the protection of the coral reef systems. Since 2015, Castaway together with MES has both managed to plant corals covering a total reef area of 419.19km² along the in-house.
