On Day 6, we were pretty excited to learn about aquatic studies and the importance of the biodiversity of fishes. For this study, we were first briefed in the morning about the methodologies for observing the biodiversity of the fishes in the river – the first relied more on observing based on set distance intervals while the second was more based on time, i.e. exploring and counting the number of fishes in a certain area in a set time interval.
After receiving the instructions and briefings, we then went to the nearby river to do our research using the 2 different methods, and we had to present our findings in the evening. A few of us were assigned to use the Scuba Gear to observe the fishes and to identify some of the types of fishes that live in the river. Others had to observe the habitat changes, such as the size of the rocks and the depth of the water, in order to form a link between the types of fishes and the types of habitats that they preferred to live in.
We spent the time after lunch to work on the presentation for the evening. It was definitely an eye-opener to view the underwater footage that some of us had took. After completing the presentation slides, we had the evening off where we were allowed to play in the river, which we had a lot of fun doing knowing that it would be the last time for us to do so.
Following our dinner time, we then had to present our research based on our findings from the morning. It was pretty interesting to see how the observations of the other group fared with ours. Though, the majority of the content were similar, they did provide some interesting points especially like how the biodiversity (number of fishes) differed with different water levels, even “mapping” out the riverbed to showcase this. Nevertheless, this day marked the end of our KBSFC journey where most were eager to finally return to civilization the next day and have access to the internet and social media.