5 week Marine Professional Development Program, 1st June.
Words by Isla Kemp
My week at LTO started with a cup of tea and the sun rising over the Indian Ocean!
On Monday and Tuesday we had our introductory lectures with Eman and Chess on the work that LTO carries out here in Mozambique. As well as coral reef, megafauna, drone and fisheries surveys, LTO has many projects with the community such as gender equity, swimming lessons and painting the schools. It was really interesting to learn about all the challenges that come with conservation in Mozambique. Once we had finished our lectures, Claire and I were itching to get stuck in, so we headed to the beach to carry out our first beach clean! It was very sad to see how much plastic pollution was on the beach, but rewarding to help clean it up.
On Tuesday evening though, we had a call from LTO’s partner dive operator to say there was bioluminescence! We all ran down to the beach and saw the most spectacular waves! It was the first time I had seen bioluminescence on this scale!
Wednesday was my favourite day of the trip so far. In the morning, it was our first time snorkelling in the Mozambican ocean! We took the paddle boards to Coral Gardens and took turns snorkelling. Coral Gardens has lots of soft and bouldering corals, quite different to anything I’d seen before. In the afternoon we went on a cultural tour. This started at the local schools, where we saw all the work LTO has been doing with them. Despite all the work LTO has done with the schools (like building 14 classrooms), the schools still don’t have enough space for the kids to learn. One class sat under a tree for their lesson. Then, we visited Pascoal’s home. We learned how to pick mandioca leaves from the farm, watched as Bento climbed the coconut trees to collect coconuts (which by far was one of the most impressive things I’ve seen someone do), and made peanut rice! The children danced and found it very funny when we joined in. We played skip rope with them and fish, fish, shark (duck, duck, goose). The simple happiness was so refreshing. I feel very privileged to have been part of it for one day.
On Thursday it was our first fisheries day! We got up at 5 and walked along the beach at a very beautiful sunrise to Paindane Bay. Here we waited for the fisherman to come back in with their catch. We then measured and took photographs of hundred of fish, which we later IDed. It was a test of our patience with imageJ and concentration on the fish, but we managed to successfully identify and measure all the fish!
Friday was dive day! I got up early to complete my refresher dive with Imran in the pool, before we headed out for our Try dive. Launching the boat is a challenge, but luckily for us on that day the seas were very calm! Sadly our coral transect dive got cancelled, but instead we started researching the game fish species that are going to be fished in the South African fishing competition next fortnight. On the weekend, Claire and I began our Advanced Open Water Course, which has so far been very interesting! We have seen many eels, a peacock mantis shrimp, and loads of beautiful reef fish. Its very motivating to see the reef that we are helping to protect. I’m very excited to see what the week ahead holds!!
