Action packed Marine Sciences weekend.
19 September 2019
This past weekend, learners from seven schools across the Province were treated to an exciting and engaging programme celebrating Marine Sciences Week organized by Gansbaai Academia School.
The programme kicked off with a shark dissection by the Marine Dynamics team, followed by a visit to the I&J Abalone farm to showcase the different growths stages of Haliotis midae species.
At the Abalone farm, Gansbaai Academia welcomed learners from five different schools that also form part of the Marine Engagement programme run by the South African Observation Network (SAEON).
These schools include, Simon's Town High School, Houtbay High, Ocean View High, Sophumelela High and Masiphumelele High School.
Later that afternoon the South African Weather Services (SAWS) spoke to learners about “Understanding metocean interactions”. Their team consisted of five Meteorological and Marine observers.
Tammy Morris from SAWS also had an introductory session with the learners on Ocean salinity. Simons Town High and Gansbaai Academia gave feedback on their journey as a Marine Sciences Node and presented on Porrifera and Tides.
A team from the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries then addressed learners explaining ‘Aquaculture’ and the career paths and bursaries offered by the Department.
Miss Pinkey from Dyer Island Trust presented on Pollution and gave an overview of her organization.
The evening ended off with Mr Thomas Mtontsi presenting on Robots in the Ocean, highlighting Argo floats that are monitored by SAEON.
The next day, learners were up early to do a beach clean-up from Stanford’s Cove to Gansbaai Harbour. They were joined by the Gansbaai Academia Tourism learners.
The group managed to clean the area thoroughly and recorded the debris collected on the beach area. The Marine Sciences learners also recorded species data on the Rocky shore for their end of year final practical mark.
Tommy Wilson, Principal of Gansbaai Academia, said “Overall the weekend was very successful and informative from the various organisations presenting to us, our Abalone farm visit, Shark dissection, beach clean-up and Rocky Shore data collection.”
Well WCED News completely agrees with that statement! What a weekend of discovery and learning, as well as, the opportunity to meet new friends and do something positive for the environment!
Well done Gansbaai Academia for this amazing initiative!
