Episode 10: Coral Reefstoration Ghana: A New Dive Lab
Dive into Ghana’s coral future with Coral Reef Restoration Ghana, a nonprofit bringing new life to reefs and new opportunities to young scientists. Founder George Amadou and cinematographer David Selasi Kuwornu share how their groundbreaking Dive Lab—the first of its kind in Ghana—trains marine biology students to scuba dive, explore coral reefs, and capture stories through underwater film. We discuss the challenges of ocean access, cultural barriers around swimming, destructive fishing practices, and why media storytelling is essential for shifting mindsets toward conservation. This episode reveals how locally led initiatives can protect Ghana’s coral ecosystems while empowering the next generation of West African marine scientists and storytellers.
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Episode Guest: George Amadou and David Selasi Kuwornu
Learn more about Coral Reefstoration Ghana on their Instagram @coralreefsgh
Follow Coral Reefstoration Ghana on YouTube
Listen to the Wiser World Podcast https://wiserworld.com/
Episode Transcript and more information on the Pine Forest Media website
Follow Pine Forest Media on Instagram @pineforestmedia
Hosted, produced, and edited by Clark Marchese
Cover art by Jomiro Eming
Theme music by Nela Ruiz
Find some more Pine Forest Media podcasts below:
Listen to South Pole on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Listen to Plastic Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Listen to Something in the Water on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
Transcript:
Clark Marchese (00:11.138)
Hello there, and welcome back to another episode of Oceanography. The podcast that dives deep into the science of our oceans, the latest in marine research, and the scientists working hard to better understand and protect our blue planet. And today we are deep diving for real. Or for reef?
Clark Marchese (00:48.314)
Alright oceanography listeners, I am your host Clark Marchese and this is Oceanography. For this last episode in September, right in the tail end of back to school season, we are going on a field trip ourselves. You will need to pack your flippers, your oxygen tank, a sack lunch, and of course your field notebook. Today, we are headed to Accra in Ghana and we are about to meet two media professionals and conservationists at Coral Reef Sturation Ghana who are working hard at restoring our oceans.
As much as I would like to, I cannot take credit for these puns. Coral Reefstoration Ghana is a non-profit working to restore coral ecosystems and expand ocean access, and empower the next generation of marine scientists and storytellers through diving, conservation, and media. And today's timing is extra special because we are going to be speaking to them just about one week after they wrapped a brand new project called the Dive Lab, which is a six day hands-on bootcamp in Accra that teaches marine biology undergraduates how to scuba dive and how to film underwater. It's about access and skills, giving students their first real experience to dive down to the sea floor and the storytelling skills to bring those discoveries back on land. And it's the first program of its kind in Ghana. Today we are joined by George Amadou, the founder and lead instructor at Coral Reefstoration Ghana. He is a marine educator, conservationist and underwater filmmaker.
And we are also joined by David Selassie Kournu, a cinematographer and the organization's communications and programs lead. In our interview, which will begin in just a moment, we will talk about the barriers to ocean access in Ghana and why swimming and diving training matters. We'll talk about the state of Ghana's coral reefs and the threats from pollution and destructive fishing. We'll talk about digital storytelling and how it can shift mindsets and inspire conservation. And we'll talk about what the students gain from the dive lab and how it contributes to their vision for the next generation of marine scientists and storytellers leading locally led solutions across West Africa. We will say hello in just a moment, but before we do, I would love to hear from you. Feel free to drop a comment wherever you're listening or write your review on Apple Podcast to let us know what you think about oceanography so far. Or if you have episode ideas, we would love to hear them. And beyond what fun it is to connect with all of you, those reviews really help us get the show into more ears and they help Pine Forest media grow.
Clark Marchese (03:10.178)
which if you're new here, Pine Force Media is the only independent podcast network in the world dedicated entirely to environmental science storytelling. All right, with that, grab your flippers and your oxygen tank because we are deep diving for real.
Clark Marchese (03:39.18)
Alright, we are recording. Well, the first question I have for you is if you could just introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about what you do at Choro Reef Serration Ghana.
George Amadou
Thank you very much, Clark, for having us on your podcast. I want to say hello to all your listeners worldwide. So my name is George Amadou. I'm the founder and lead instructor at Coral Restoration Ghana, as well as a marine educator, conservationist, and underwater filmmaker.
Clark Marchese
Okay, it is so nice to meet you.
David S. Kuwornu
Thank you so much. I'm glad for this awesome opportunity. Hello listeners. I am David Selasi Kuwornu. I'm a cinematographer and a communications expert. The communications and then our programs lead at the Korra restoration.
Clark Marchese
Thank you both so much for being here today. Thank you. And a lot of us will be hearing about Coral Registration Ghana for the first time. So can you tell us a little bit about what this program is and maybe its mission as well?
David S. Kuwornu (04:34.798)
Okay so the Coral Restoration Ghana is a non-governmental organization. We're into marine conservation and coral restoration. Our mission is to build the capacity and the great assets for ocean enthusiasts, for conservationists and scientists. I mean we're looking at empowering them to tell compelling stories that inspire ocean protection and also foster a renewed mindset for conservation. Basically, we are conservationists as well.
Clark Marchese
I’m curious about that. Can you speak a little more about what your approach is in fostering that renewed mindset and also maybe what mindset do we need to renew?
David S. Kuwornu
Okay. So, over the years, actually in this part of our world, brain conservation is not something that is, well known or is head off. Yeah. So we are looking at creating that environment that can feed or foster these mindsets, especially through this dive lab, through our messages that we are putting out there through the coral restoration that is going a long way to impact the minds of people around us. Yes. To help create that marine conservation awareness and then have them know what way to go when it comes to conservation.
George Amadou (05:53.038)
Just to add to what David said also, you know, growing up in Ghana, we, would be told stories that would keep you away from the water bodies, our seas, our rivers and all that. Because of this mindset, people grew up with this misconception about our water bodies, our ocean and all that. And we seek to change that narrative and let them see it from a different view to see this thing as being part of us. And it is something we should learn more about and know more about and protect. what we have than just shine away from it because we've been told stories that create this scary whatever in our minds and we don't even care about the ocean as we should care for it. So just to add to what David has already said.
Clark Marchese
Okay, thank you for sharing. I also want to know a little bit more about your origin story as well. Can you tell me a little bit about when Choral Restoration Ghana started, how it did, and how long you've been doing this kind of work?
George Amadou
Okay. So as an organization, we fully started, say two years ago, but before this time, we have been giving swimming lessons to various community schools and then some even scientists to give them the capacity to learn how to swim in a way of also getting them connected to our water bodies and all that just to spark up that interest in the first place. But two years ago we attended. This conference that was organized by the University of Ghana is the West African Marine Science Symposium. It was organized by the University of Ghana and it was chaired by one Professor, Edem Mahu. So she even came to us and we are teaching her how to swim with her students from the Marine Science Department. so attending that conference also opened our minds in the sense that this conference brought together experts, youth, NGOs, and fundraisers across the region that is talking about West Africa.
George Amadou (07:45.748)
And because at that time we were also teaching some marine science students how to swim and were present at the conference, we realized that during the conference, one of the major barriers to marine conservation in West Africa was the lack of access.
Yes, so once we had started teaching this professor and her students how to swim, we thought we could take it a step further. Yes, since we already had the skill, which is the skill of diving, and we just thought we should take it a step further by not just stopping at teaching these ones how to swim, because some of these students are marine scientists. So we decided on teaching them how to dive so that they could actually go down there. I mean, get to see the seabed, get to experience the marine life down there in the water. Yes. And then also, or thereby making them appreciate marine conservation more. Because most of these students tend to study these things just theoretically. You understand? They don't get to, they don't get that practical experience of being underwater and then applying that which they've studied. Yes. Like George was talking earlier, he was like, You know, growing up, one thing that we all noticed was our parents never allowed us to close to the sea or to the ocean or to any water body at all. You know, because there's this scare and then there's this scare that we may drown. So therefore, we never had the chance and we still don't have the chance of getting so many people have access to the sea as it's supposed to be. This is one of the barriers. Also, When you go to our universities, our tertiary institutions here in West Africa, not all of them. fact, very, I mean, just about 1 % of the students get access to the ocean because there's not that, I mean, the schools are not equipped to, I mean, take students on a practical research down the water to see or to experience that which they are learning theoretically.
Clark Marchese (09:52.664)
Okay, that makes sense. In fact, I think most marine biology undergraduate programs in the US don't include diving certification as part of their curriculum. If you're lucky, maybe it'll be offered as an elective, but you know, then of course the university would have to be next to an ocean if you actually wanted to get practice in the marine environment. So I imagine that would be really special for the marine biology students you work with to have their first diving experience in an actual coral reef. But this type of training is a newer aspect of your organization. So I want to learn a little bit more about this new diving school in particular, or the dive lab as you're calling it. I understand that you have a bootcamp of sorts coming up. The first of its kind in Ghana. Can you tell us a little bit about this debut project?
David S. Kuwornu
All right, the Dive Lab is a hands-on training program that we're looking at using as an opportunity to equip scientists, conservationists, and youth leaders with diving and underwater research skills. Yes, the idea actually is to equip these people, to get them trained to be able to experience the water or the ocean or to have experience of what happens under the sea or in the water or in the sea. We actually have about 50 applicants for now. We have already shortlisted and selected 10 out of this 50 that we are going to take through this dive training. Most of these ones who have already been selected are students from marine science departments in the various universities that we have here in Ghana. Yes, and we are looking at giving them that dive which they can use from this time on or after they have trained to carry out all of their scientific research in the ocean.
Clark Marchese (11:40.686)
Okay, so now that we've gotten a sense of why the Marine Biology students need coral reef restoration Ghana, I'm wondering if you can tell us why the coral reefs need the program too. At the top of the show, you mentioned that you are a conservationist and we haven't had a chance to dig into the science of coral reefs on this podcast yet, but of course they are very predominantly featured on our cover art. So we will get around to it eventually, I promise. But maybe just as an introduction, I know that there are some ocean wide concerns: coral bleaching and microplastics and other things we'll dig into the science of later. But on the environmental side, is there anything you can tell us about the coral reef situation in Ghana right now?
David S. Kuwornu
Well, okay, the coral reefs situation in Ghana is not that bad, which is the more reason why we are looking at training quite a number of divers so that we can protect it from going bad, actually. For now, we have done a couple of dives in our waters and we've been able to find very lovely areas within our waters where there are so many coral reefs. And then it is upon that that we have actually started a whole coral reef education or coral reef awareness campaign thereby also creating that need for its restoration in areas where probably due to wrong fishing practices these reefs might may have been destroyed we're looking at creating the opportunity for restoration as well in areas where i mean there's been some form of distraction or whatsoever yes
Clark Marchese
Okay, I want to learn more about the challenges and then we'll work our way to the solutions. But just before we do, I have something else to share with our listeners. Now on Oceanography and our other Pine Forest Media podcast, we dig into the science of the forces shaping our natural world. And if you like this approach, you might be interested in a podcast that looks into the forces shaping our human world too. Wiser World is a podcast that brings a similar curiosity to history and culture. It makes global history feel approachable.
Clark Marchese (13:41.708)
with thoughtful episodes exploring the context behind major headlines, world religions, and travel destinations. From Sudan and Cuba to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and modern China, each episode helps you understand how the past shapes the present. Just search Wiser World on your favorite podcast app or visit wiserworld.com. I am a super fan of the show, so I thought you listeners might be interested in it too. Okay, we are back David. So you mentioned irresponsible fishing practices. So... I'd be curious to learn a bit more about what those would be and also what other threats you're protecting coral reefs from.
David S. Kuwornu
Okay. So we're also, we're trying to protect these reefs from pollution as well. Ocean pollution. Let me, let me put it that way. So for instance, sometime within this year, we are going to start another campaign, which is mainly geared towards marine and shipping companies here in Ghana. And we are going to talk to them and educate them on the need of the coral reefs and why we need to keep them safe and why we need to put a stop to marine pollution. So marine pollution is another threat aside the destructive fishing that we have. With the destructive fishing, what's happening here in Ghana is we have some of the artisanal fishermen who are actually fishing with explosives, able to have a very large harvest of fish. understand? Yes. Some are also fishing with the wrong fishing gears. Yes, which are, I mean, some of them just get entangled or, I mean, get trapped under the water and then thereby going to destroy some of our coral reefs down there. Yes. So basically these are some of the destructive fishing practices that are affecting our reefs or that that will go a long way destroy our reefs someday.
Clark Marchese (15:37.57)
So it's interesting, irresponsible fishing practices of various methods in various places have come up on the show quite a bit so far, but even last week when we spoke about marine protected areas, we learned that simply giving the ocean a little bit of space to recover is quite effective. You mentioned the awareness campaign. I'd be curious to learn some of your strategies in working towards ending the destructive practices and also if aside from that, once the reef has been damaged, if there's anything we can do to help it recover.
David S. Kuwornu
Okay, so I'm going to hand this over to George.
George Amadou
All right, so personally, let me share this experience from some dives I've done and two spots here in our ocean. And I had to go down there to see how FusionNet has taken over the whole ecosystems and it's pollution and all that. So what I did was I have an Insta360 camera. So I took footage of this thing, put it on a VR headset and then show it back to the special folks along the coast and all these things that, okay, maybe the actions on land is being, or this is the result of our actions on land under the water. And if care is not being taken, the source from which we get our fishes and livelihood from, we are destroying them unknowingly. And so from a conservation point, I tried to bring this thing back to land to kind of inspire certain changing attitudes in the first place. And then with the help of some of our scientists also, we have some people who assist us clean this ecosystem to a reef strive and grow for us to have a healthy reef and then a healthy ocean.
Clark Marchese (17:18.19)
Okay, this might lead us back directly to the dive lab because in addition to diving lessons, you're also teaching about conservation. So maybe I can ask what sorts of conservation skills the dive students will be learning as well.
David S. Kuwornu
Okay, so first off, we're going to take them through the dive training. And after we take them through the dive training, we are going to take them through underwater cinematography. Yes. So that they will be, I mean, they'll learn to capture and then take footages. Let's say they acquire these dive skills and they acquire these underwater cinematography skills. They go down there and they see anything that is a threat or needs to be conserved. They come back. We find a solution to it. We go back there and then start whatever conservation plan we have in place.
Clark Marchese
So these students will be diving for the first time, but will most of them be having their first introduction to filming and videography as well?
David S. Kuwornu
Okay. So some of them do have that already, but some we are going to introduce them to during the training program as well.
Clark Marchese (18:20.824)
Okay, so this is a major skill building program on two fronts. We have the diving and the video training. I love the media aspect of it. Marine communication is obviously a passion of mine. And of course it would be important enough alone just to teach the marine scientists how to dive so that they can see the coral reefs and do their field research, et cetera. But maybe you can tell me why you decided to make the media storytelling such a core part of the dive lab.
David S. Kuwornu
So the media storytelling is going to push our awareness creation agenda. Because like I said earlier, in this part of the world, reefs are not known to people at all. And one of the main places where we are targeting now are the schools. So that at an early stage, we want to give these young ones very in-depth knowledge and education on coral reefs. I mean, before they even grow and then want to take a career path in marine science or whatsoever. You see it? Yes. So the storytelling bit is to help enrich our coral restoration awareness agenda and then the conservation agenda as well. This is mainly to boost our educative programs.
Clark Marchese
This is a wonderful idea. And maybe I can ask you a follow-up question. How do you plan to distribute the footage and videos you create from this DiveLab?
David S. Kuwornu
We are in collaboration with some media stations here in Ghana and we look forward to extending it to West Africa who are going to start having a documented series that is going to be aired on live TV. Yes, that is going to be aired on live TV. One. Two, we are looking at organizing video documentary sessions at these schools. I mean, that I'm talking about nationwide.
David S. Kuwornu (20:11.402)
Also, we have a virtual reality sets that we take time in. Kerimi, that's what we are using that has footages of some of the dives we've conducted already. And we go around these schools and organizations. And then we, we more like organized workshops where we give them the opportunity to see and experience the sea, the water bed, and then all of the beautiful creatures that are in the sea from this virtual reality set.
Clark Marchese
That is so amazing. I want to see it for myself.
David S. Kuwornu
Yes, yes, yes, you will.
Clark Marchese
Okay, wonderful. Well, maybe even now we can have a bit of a larger conversation about the power of media on issues of the environment. You know, this is a place that I spend a lot of time into and I remember that Ocean and Nature documentaries had a pretty large influence on me and my choices. But as two people who work right in the intersection of conservation and media, can you speak to the importance of bridging ocean conservation and digital storytelling, both in general and also in the context of Ghana and West Africa?
David S. Kuwornu
Okay so I believe that the digital storytelling is actually what is going to bridge the gap between the wealth of knowledge that is to be acquired or that there is to be acquired from ocean and those out there who do not know about it. The digital storytelling tools are going to carry these live marine messages right on their wings
David S. Kuwornu (21:40.77)
to these people out there who do not know anything about it, who have very wrong perceptions about the ocean in the first place, who actually do not think that the ocean deserves some care, you know, and then some, some love, so to speak. Yeah.
Clark Marchese
Yes, amazing. Well, I'm looking at my questions and we are coming to the last bit of the interview. There are a couple of things though that I do want to ask before we go. The first is, what do you hope for the next generation of marine scientists and marine conservationists in Ghana?
David S. Kuwornu
So our hope and desire is that they develop this interest for marine science from a tender age. For instance, in this part of our world, you find kids developing interest for medicine, architecture, because, I mean, this is what they are used to. This is what they can see. But our hope and desire is that by the time we train or we have trained a lot of divers and then we have we've trained a lot of marine conservationists and we have quite a number of institutions that are aware of marine conservation. It will be a very good basis for it to be added to our base school curriculum so that these students can develop interest for marine conservation, coral restoration and diving at an early stage. are also looking at having this create the opportunity to have swimming clubs in all of these schools that would eventually lead to dive skill acquisition and then would take this whole beautiful agenda further than it is.
Clark Marchese (23:28.024)
Well, it seems like you are well on your way to creating that future. George, same question.
George Amadou
So looking ahead in hope, I want to see the next generation having access, the training and the confidence to lead ocean conservation in their own space, in the sense that it shouldn't be because of lack of diving abilities and all that our young folks or our future generation are not able to carry out conservation. And so that's what I look at, that the next generation should not just be participants, but innovators and also creating locally led solutions for our waters here in Africa.
Clark Marchese
I also want to ask, what do you think the rest of the world can learn from Ghana when it comes to marine conservation and storytelling?
George Amadou
I mean, for us, even with the limited resources available, we've been able to use the power of collaboration and then engaging with local community to start something local here. So conservation doesn't always start big, it can start local and then grow from there. So we believe the world of the rest of the world can also lend is that through community driven solution and even with limited resources.
George Amadou (24:41.262)
You can collaborate with young people, the youth and local communities to come up with something powerful in terms of conservation and you can see it grow from there to become very impactful.
Clark Marchese
Thank you for sharing. Well, the last question I have for you is where can listeners, wherever they happen to be in the world, find you and follow your work and see what you're doing and support in ways they can.
George Amadou
So thank you very much. So we have an Instagram, CoraReevesGH. So CoraReeves with an S and then GH and then our YouTube channel also, it's CoraReevesGH also. And so they can support us by sharing our stories and partnering with us, also contributing to resources that can help us train more young people in the near future. But more importantly, they can also use their voice to highlight and protects our ocean and tell stories about what we are doing here in Ghana.
Clark Marchese
All right. Well, this is the part where I say thank you to both of you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. Thank you for teaching us about coral reefs in Ghana and also about your program. And most importantly, thank you so much for the important conservation work that you're doing.
David S. Kuwornu (25:52.142)
Thank you, it was lovely being here.
Clark Marchese (25:58.092)
You've been listening to Oceanography. Just a reminder to anyone who is interested in helping us reach more people and share scientific research like this, a five star rating or a written review on Apple podcasts or wherever you're listening are the easiest and most effective ways to help us out. Other than that, you can join us on Patreon to support the work that we do, find extra resources from episodes and interact with us a bit more. Oceanography is a Pine Forest media production. You can find more information about the podcast and this week's guests in the episode description.
Cover art for the show was done by Jomero Emming and the music you're listening to was done by Neela Ruiz. The show is hosted and edited by me, Clark Marekese, and you can find more information about Pine Forest Media and our other science podcasts at pineforestpods.com or follow us on social media at pineforestmedia. All right, that is almost all I have for you today, except for this one baby spoiler. Next week, we will be going very far south to our southernmost ocean. Some people even call it the Southern Ocean. Okay, no more spilling secrets. I will see you right back here next week to learn more.
