One of our initiatives at Seas Your Future is Ocean Science and during our recent Ocean Science voyage, Project Costa Rica, four out of the six scientists were woman!
To celebrate International Day of Woman and Girls in Science we will be sharing with you a short story on how previous Seas Your Future Scientist, Sari, decided to become a marine biologist:
Exploring the underwater world or its remains such as finding shells on the beach, has always fascinated me. As a child, I always went snorkelling with my family when I had the chance. Seeing the amazing coral reefs and its inhabitants is just so wonderful and peaceful.
At age 18, I decided to leave my comfortable home country Belgium and explore the world. As part of that journey, I went volunteering in the Philippines at a local charity, where I had to dive daily to assess coral reef health. The ocean still fascinated me in the same way as it did when I was a kid, but there was one big difference: the state of the reefs. The corals weren’t as colourful anymore, there were less fish and less snails. Plastics were a common find among the shells on the beaches. I couldn’t believe what we had done to these pristine habitats.
There and then, I decided to dedicate my life to saving the ocean and go to university to study marine biology and oceanography. Now, I am currently in my last year of my bachelors. This degree has taught me so much about the oceans and I can tell everyone - it’s not too late to turn the tide. We can still save them. And that’s what I’m planning to do.
Later this year, you will find me SCUBA or freediving among tropical coral reefs. Using monitoring programs and increased scientific knowledge, we can inform policy makers and governments on the state of these amazing habitats which are crucial to the lively hood of many people on this planet.
