Learning about life under the sea
Marine education includes dressing up as sea creatures.
On a cold wet rainy day ELTO visited the Island Bay Marine Education Centre on Wellington’s coast. NGUYEN THI HONG THANH from the Ministry of Agiculture in Vietnam reports.
Cold feelings soon disappeared when we arrived, as we received a warm welcome from Victor and Judy who work as marine experts.
Victor introduced the history of the house where marine species are exhibited. The house is a place fisherman kept fresh fish a long time ago. However, people living around this area complained about a bad smell of fish, so the fisherman moved to another place. Nowadays, this house is becoming the education centre for marine resources for the community.
We saw unique species such as sea cucumber, starfish, lobster, turtles, and rockfish. This was the first time I had seen and touched blue cod and octopus. Victor told an interesting story about the octopus. The female octopus only has one pregnancy during her life cycle. After they bear 2500 eggs, they die.
Most of the sea species have high economic value. Fishermen harvest them commercially. These activities have resulted in the declining of some species. I also shared experiences with Victor about some seafood which is being farmed in Vietnam. Nowadays, we have lobsters, bechedemer (sea cucumber), oyster, algae, shrimp, and catfish farming.
This trip really appealed to me. I learned an effective way to educate communities about how to protect a diversity of marine resources. Both children and adults need to be educated about the natural world in order to change behaviours and become friendlier to the environment. Marine education is the best way to improve awareness of communities about crucial marine habitats.
