The Journey to a Masters Degree by Research in Mozambique

After diving for the first time in 2012, my whole future pivoted towards marine biology. I was in my first year of an ecology and conservation bachelor’s degree at the time when I completed both the Open Water and Advanced. Upon returning to university I changed my degree to Marine Biology. To say I was hooked to the underwater world is an understatement. After completing the bachelor’s degree I fulfilled a few of my other dreams, such as a ski season in Canada and completing an Ironman triathlon.

After these things, I was ready to get re-submerged in the world of marine biology – I emailed a dive centre in Tofo, Mozambique, and enrolled into a 3-month Divemaster internship. I had heard that there was a lot of active research conducted in Tofo, and with a view to finding a master’s degree topic, I got to work with meeting everyone I could. It was then that I met Katie, the marine research director of All Out Africa. Katie quickly became and continues to be an invaluable source of knowledge and help. I was also lucky enough to be offered a job at a dive centre, allowing me to stay in Tofo. After some deliberation stingrays became the family of interest as, despite a global distribution, so very little is known about our pancake-fish friends.

Being able to stay in Mozambique while I complete my research is a privilege. With every dive, I learn more and more about not just stingrays, but all the incredible creatures the ocean holds.

All About Stingrays – Jenny Keeping

Stingrays have had a bad reputation; Steve Irwin’s fateful interaction and the menacing barb on their tail does not comply with their docile, relatively quiet existence. It is actually the last resort for a stingray to use its barb, they would much prefer to take flight than fight.

Stingrays (in their current form) have been flapping around in the oceans for 150 million years. They are a close cousin to sharks, as they also have a skeleton made of cartilage instead of solid bone. You can see this close relationship with some species which have co-evolved with the stingray and shark families, such as the Guitarfish family, which looks like a shark’s tail has been stuck to a stingray’s head.

Stingrays are a valuable part of the marine ecosystem. They provide a link between apex predators, like the requiem sharks, and lower trophic levels, such as the crabs and shrimp they munch on just under the sand. Unfortunately, they face a threat operating at an unfathomable scale. Stingrays like to hang out on the sea floor, which is where some fishing methods, like trawling and gill nets, will entangle and drag them up by mistake.

The lack of baseline data for stingrays globally means it is impossible for effective conservation measures to be put in place. Some stingrays are more common than others, but herein lies the challenge for all marine researchers – how do we research things we rarely see? I can tell you it takes time, perseverance and patience. In Tofo we see stingrays on approximately 1/3^rdof dives, and every dive is recorded in the hope that the secrets of stingrays may start to be unlocked.

Click here if you would like to know more about our Marine Research Project, or our Dive Master Training Project.

Nhatofo Salva Vidas is a local lifesaving association based in Tofo, Inhambane province Mozambique. It is a voluntary non-profit association.  Tofo Lifesavers was established after concerned citizens decided Tofo beach needed lifeguards in order to maintain a safe environment for all people to enjoy the beach and water.

The goal is to advise people against dangerous beach activity and provide a safe, life-guarded area in which to swim to reduce the drownings on Tofo Beach each year.  The vast majority of people in Mozambique cannot swim and are not comfortable in the water resulting in a high number of drowning cases each year with peaks occurring on weekends and during holiday seasons when beach-use increases.  These drownings could often be avoided if someone were present on the beach to warn swimmers of dangerous conditions, point out rip currents and advise safer swim locations or could affect an on-water rescue.

All establishment, training, and fundraising for Nhatofo Salva Vidas have been the tireless work of a very small team of dedicated volunteers.  In order to make sure this initiative is sustainable, durable and ongoing into the future, the lifeguards trained were all from the local area and these lifeguards are now the solely paid workforce of Nhatofo Salva Vidas.

However despite this, running costs each month greatly exceed current monthly donations, currently, without financial support from the Mozambican government, Tofo Lifesavers is struggling to achieve the baseline monthly running costs.  We also seek contributions towards completion of the establishment of the association, which will make Nhatofo Salva Vidas a secure, registered and licensed part if Mozambican life, a key step in our mission to ensure this association exists not just to save lives today but into the future.

Lifesavers

If you would like to contribute and assist Katie in getting the lifesavers program firmly off the ground, you will directly result in more lives being saved and more people learning to safely enjoy their ocean.

Check out their go fund me page here.