THE INDEPENDENT - How green was my year
Added to website: 23 September 2004
Jobs in ecology are scarce, so using a gap year to make a head start in your chosen field makes sense, writes Amy McLellan.
Gappers on projects with Coral Cay Conservation also receive training in conservation skills and must sit a series of tests. “It’s important we keep up the standard,” a spokesman says, “because we depend on volunteers to collect information, which is analysed in the UK and used by our partners so that they may manage their habitats better, either by protecting marine areas or setting up rainforest reserves.”
Coral Cay’s most popular project is a marine conservation project in Fiji, surveying the coral reefs of the Mamanuca Islands. Gappers pay £400 for a week’s diving training, followed by £700 for two weeks of skills development. Additional weeks come in at between £100 and £300, depending on the length of the trip.
