The EcoTrust is a not-for-profit organisation operating out of Roctopus Dive in Koh Tao, located in the Gulf of Thailand. Dedicated to preserving marine ecosystems, EcoTrust offers marine ecology courses and research diving programs aimed at equipping students with hands-on experience in ocean conservation.
The organization engages in critical restoration efforts, including coral transplantation and ghost net removal, with every student contributing directly to our research and preservation goals. Data gathered from these projects allows us to continuously assess the health of surrounding reefs, and provides essential information on trends that may develop in the health status and biodiversity of local reefs.
This is Matt he is our Program Director and in-house Marine Biologist. Originally from Canada, Matt completed his BSc in Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of the Fraser Valley. Seeking adventure after graduation Matt set out for Thailand to train as a professional diver on Koh Tao, becoming a Specialty SCUBA Instructor. During his time on the island he developed a fascination with sharks and a desire to learn more, so left to pursue a Masters Degree in Marine Biology from James Cook University in Australia. During that degree he got hands on experience working with some of the worlds best shark researchers, tagging sharks with satelite tags, taking DNA samples, and learning productive stakeholder engagement techniques. Afterwhich he worked as a Research Diver on the Crown of Thorns Control Program on the Great Barrier Reef performing reef health assessments, scientific cull dives, and government policy.
Matt is currently working on a few projects; maintaining the health of our artificial reef, monitoring black tip reef sharks around the island, and measuring marine debris collections. Matt has a lot of experience developing programs for marine conservation and education from his expereince working as an educator and scientist in several countries. He has been the Program Director at the Roctopus ecoTrust since 2024 and is continuing the important long-term monitoring programs and coral reef restoration work. He always available for an email to discuss upcoming projects, internship opportunities and courses - don’t hesitate to drop him a message!