A Day in the life of a Marine Biologist - Hadin - Coral Researcher
Welcome to our exciting new series: “A day in the life of a Marine Biologist”, where we invite you to learn more about our MUI staff and their day to day life. This month we will be talking to and learning from Hadin, MUI’s Coral researcher.
Hadin first joined the MUI team as an intern during 2025 and is now working as the current Coral Researcher based at Six Senses Laamu. In addition to educating guests through crafted experiences, Hadin is responsible for overseeing our ex-situ coral systems and also in charge of our coral restoration projects such as micro-fragmentation and larval restoration. Hadin is excited to resume our larval restoration project next month as our corals will enter their spawning period!
Hadin started working as the Coral researcher in August, but has been with the MUI team since May. Relatively new to the conservation field, he has spent 10 months in the marine sector. Hadin was raised from the capital of Maldives, Male, and his enthusiasm for animals and working closely with them has been his goal as far as he can remember. Always equipped with a curious and inquisitive attitude to everything in the natural world, he is currently interested in corals and seagrass which make up the wonderful habitats of our beloved fauna. Hadin is hoping to improve his diving skills while he is here!
What inspired you to become a marine biologist?
There has never been one single trigger that made me decide I wanted to become a marine biologist, but the love I’ve always held for animals goes as far back as my earliest memories extend. This admiration I’ve held for them overlapped with my sense of curiosity about the scientific world and passion for ocean activities like diving and swimming, and before I knew it I found myself on the path of a marine biologist!
Can you tell us a bit about your journey—how did you end up working with MUI?
Straight after finishing my education, I was fortunate enough to get an internship from The Olive Ridley Project in 2024, which gave me valuable experience of working in the conservation field and of course, a wealth of turtle knowledge. Afterwards I was volunteering for Welfare for Island Cats when I heard of the internship program at MUI, and applied. I was here as an intern starting from May 2025, and had the incredible opportunity of working alongside many talented marine biologists in MUI, including the previous Coral Researcher Maahil ‘Coco’ Ahmed. I admire the way he conducts research and how extremely knowledgeable he is in this field and hope to follow his example!
What’s something most people don’t realize about marine biology / working with the community?
I think a lot of people, especially my generation, feel pessimistic about the future of nature in general and write off marine conservation (or conservation efforts in general) as a “lost cause”. I strongly sympathise with the sentiment, especially as a coral researcher facing severe bleaching events, but I feel like most people forget that we can, and already have, saved many species and habitats! As cliche as it sounds, human tenacity is never to be underestimated and as long as we do not give up hope, we can save our reefs.
A Typical Day
What does a normal workday look like for you?
My first task of the day is to check on our precious baby corals! We have over a thousand coral fragments in our nursery and as much as I would like to examine each and every single one of them, I can only spend a couple of minutes glancing over everyone just to make sure no corals are stressed out or gotten loose from their plugs. During this process I also inspect all of our tank systems such as protein skimmers and tank drains to ensure everything is in working order. Next, I may take guests on a guided snorkel at 11AM, where we show them our vibrant house reef or flourishing seagrass meadows and teach them about corals, fish and our megafauna. After a quick lunch break, I resume the day often with a bit of office time. This includes logging what we saw on our snorkel surveys as part of our megafauna project, updating the numbers of live coral in our nurseries, and other similar tasks. Any free time I get, I carry out Micro-fragmentation, one of our main coral restoration methods that we carry out here at MUI. At some point of the day, I’m responsible for the SHELL shift or SHELL Tour, where I have the pleasant mission to educate people about marine life and show them our amazing facility and activities. To finish off our day, I carry out a presentation about Corals for our guests or a Dolphin Sunset Cruise.
How do you prepare for a dive or field day?
Our corals will enter their spawning period soon, and we will be very busy doing lots of night dives! To prepare for this exciting event, we have been double checking our equipment well beforehand. It will be my first time doing coral spawning dives, so I intend to approach them as carefully and methodologically as any other dive! I look forward to seeing our larval restoration project this year as well!
What kind of data or observations are you usually collecting?
Every six months, we conduct a CCAP survey where we evaluate the health of the reef through counting fish, invertebrates and live coral cover. In previous years, the results have suggested that live coral cover has been gradually increasing since 2018, with a decrease in coral cover coinciding with recent bleaching events. We are constantly monitoring the amount of live, bleached and dead coral in hopes we can better understand our coral reefs.
What tools or tech do you use regularly?
The slate and pencil is every marine biologist’s best friend! Being able to write and tally underwater has been very helpful in keeping track of what we have or have not seen. However, we are also fortunate to have amazing and well designed reef aquarium systems at at Six Senses Laamu, which was set up thanks to our partners at The Coral Spawning Lab! The systems come equipped with systems that can automatically test the alkalinity levels of the water, UV lights that mirror the lunar cycles by becoming brighter or dimmer at separate intervals in the day and advanced filtration systems such as our reliable protein skimmers! I often tweak and adjust some of the equipment we have to ensure the corals can thrive in their preferred environment.
Project Spotlight
What project are you most involved in right now?
My main project at the moment is Micro-fragmentation. This coral restoration method involves using a diamond encrusted saw to cut up large corals into small fragments. These fragments are then fixed onto ceramic plugs, and stay in our tank systems for a couple of months. Once they are large enough and start growing by encrusting themselves around the edge of their plugs, they will rejoin their brothers and sisters on the reef!
What’s one recent moment that made you proud?
Just a few days back on the 24th of September, we planted some of our corals in our nursery that were ready back onto our reef. Coral planting dives are completely different to any other type of dive I’ve done before. You’re constantly scanning the reef to scout out any possible crevasses or shade they can fit into, you need to constantly monitor your buoyancy as you try to paste the coral with the underwater putty without crashing into the reef and coordinating with your team members on different roles. There is a feeling of accomplishment like no other when you look back and see so many baby corals starting out their new life underwater.
What challenges do you face in your work, and how do you overcome them?
Often, we face unpredictable factors that can make a simple task into a huge ordeal. Whether it is the weather, last minute changes in guest activities or equipment malfunctioning, I have learnt that adaptability is one of the most important qualities in this field. Quick decision making is essential, especially when you are diving in the field.
Impact & Purpose
Why does your work matter—to you, to the reef, to the community?
I feel proud of the work I do, because it is never easy to follow through with one's ideals and being able to directly contribute to protecting our beautiful habitats and wildlife is extremely meaningful to me as it has been a long time goal of mine since childhood. I hope the next generation of fellow Maldivians will be more encouraged to follow the same path as I am by seeing more Maldivian marine biologists like me become more commonplace. Local capacity is absolutely crucial when it comes to conservation, and I believe the events we celebrate with our community are extremely important.
What are the biggest changes you’ve seen since working at MUI / or since working in this field?
As an enthusiastic new face to this field, I cannot say I have been here long enough to observe any big changes just yet, but I hope when I look back on the work we keep doing in a few years we will see meaningful change for both our reefs and community!
How do you think tourism can better support marine conservation?
Tourism can be an extremely important resource when it comes to supporting marine conservation. We cannot define tourism in black and white terms in context of how it affects marine conservation, and we must find a compromise between the two. It is wonderful that tourism incentivizes us to protect our ecosystems, as more tourists will want to see healthier ecosystems.
How do you think tourism can better support the local community?
Being our biggest industry in the Maldives, we rely on tourism greatly. It is a great opportunity for us to keep our culture and traditions alive in this ever-changing world, by showcasing our crafted goods as souvenirs and live performances as events for interested people. By extension, we have a larger group of people who will love our ocean life having the opportunity to witness it themselves!
What is one moment with the community where you learned something?
Recently we had a local school come over and I was in charge of our “Coral Corner”, in which I gave them a brief introduction about what corals are and their importance. I learnt from that session that a lot of children actually have not got to see corals up close, despite us living surrounded by coral reefs. It was when I realised how meaningful these interactive sessions are, as people connect with nature they can see directly much easier compared to what they only hear about.
Advice & Reflections
What advice would you give to someone wanting to work in marine conservation?
I would encourage them to take that first step into finding anything in this field. You can find out what specific type of research you find interesting along the way and have a clear path of where you want to go next.
How do you stay hopeful in the face of the climate crisis?
That is a very good question. I find solace in the fact that it is a global problem that is far out of the hands of an individual to fix, and focus instead on what I can fix on an individual level.
What skills should someone have if they want to work as a marine biologist in a resort environment?
Ultimately, I believe resilience is the most important trait to have. It is inevitable to face setbacks in one's research or work, and the important is to keep trying again despite the setbacks. Photography is also very useful in my field, as I am constantly taking pictures of coral in order to identify them and evaluate their health.
If you could make others understand one thing about your job, what would it be?
That there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes! We are doing both guest activities and research work, and there is quite a bit of back and forth in finding a good balance between the two.
If you could tell the world one thing about the ocean, what would it be?
Just because we do not live in the ocean does not mean we have no reason to protect it! The nature of ecosystems is that if one thing disappears, a lot of other links in the chain are thrown into chaos as a result of it. It is in our best interests to protect our ocean, especially as a maldivian where most of our history has been interlinked with the grand oceans that surround us.
Is there something you wish you would have known before you pursued this career?
I wish that I had studied more about local names of our fish in general. Knowledge is power, as they say!
Your favourite thing about the Maldives?
I may be a bit biased, but I think Maldivian cuisine is the absolute best! If I had to choose only one type of cuisine for the rest of my life, it’s the one I would choose. There is nothing quite like the traditional short eats we have in this world.
Day-in-the-Life Snapshot
● 8:00 AM - Wake up, then breakfast in the staff canteen
● 9:00 AM - Daily check of the tanks drains, corals and fish
● 10:00 AM - Coral plantation dive
● 12:00 AM - Micro-fragmentation
● 13:00 PM - Lunch
● 14:00 PM - Office time, working on data entry etc etc
● 4:30 PM - Engaging with local students
● 5:30 PM - Daily team meeting to discuss the day and plans for tomorrow
● 6:30 PM - Coral presentation to teach guests
What’s your favorite quote?
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” -Sun Tzu