By Nuri Max Steinmann. Jan Verbeek is a marine biologist and scientific diver I met during the Erasmus Mundus master’s programme in marine biodiversity and conservation in Portugal. Since leaving Germany about 10 years ago, he spent the large majority of his time studying and working in the UK where he started his journey as…
Fighting plastic pollution and poverty at once: The Plastic Bank
By Hannah Schartmann. Shaun Frankson is Co-Founder of the Plastic Bank – a project to stop ocean plastic pollution. The motivation of this project is obvious: every minute of every day, tons of plastic get into the ocean worldwide. This amounts to around eight million tons of plastic per year. It is estimated that there…
First A Volunteer, Then A Team Member – Working with Whale Sharks on the Maldives
By Chloe Darwinn. Dhigurah, a narrow island in South Ari Atoll. At three kilometres long it is home to a community of just over six hundred people on land, as well as an abundance of life under the waves. From minuscule planktonic life, to the ocean giant and world’s biggest fish – the whale shark….
For Dr Louise Gentle, conservation is more than preservation
By Kaitlyn Elverson. Dr Louise Gentle is a well-loved wildlife conservation lecturer at the Brackenhurst Campus at Nottingham Trent University in Nottingham, UK. Her research and work at NTU has stretched over many topics, from why Wombats poop cubes to Yellowhammers, but for this interview, I asked Louise some things that targeted the bigger picture…
Interview with Zara – Fighting for the protection of sharks on the Gili Islands, Indonesia
By Hannah Schartmann. Zara is working for the Gili Shark Conservation Project, which is situated on the island Gili Air in Indonesia. This area is home of two threatened shark species, the Black Tip Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and the White Tip Reef Sharks (Triaenodon obesus). The aim of the project is to protect shark…
Thamarasi Aththanayaka: A conservation story from Sri Lanka
By Thamarasi Aththanayaka and Alyssa Robinson. Hello, I am Thamarasi Aththanayaka from Sri Lanka. I don’t know whether you have heard about my small country, which is actually an island in the Indian Ocean. We are lucky to have a beautiful ocean with sandy and rocky beaches, as well as coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass…
Making Your Dream a Reality – an interview with coral biologist, Dennis Conetta
By Lauren Giglio. “That’s going to be me one day, Dad,” an 11 year old Dennis Conetta told his smiling father as they watched divers at the New England Aquarium perform their daily tasks in the Giant Ocean Tank. He daydreamed about his future as he observed the Caribbean ecosystem cohesively operate within the three-story…
Shark ecologist and freediver Catherine Cushenan about her adventures, Instagram, conservation and the importance of following your dreams
By Nuri Max Steinmann. I met Catherine more than two years ago. We were both doing our masters at the University of Algarve, Portugal. We used to live in the same neighborhood in Praia de Faro and randomly met again on the island of Faial, Azores, were we had some great joint adventures. Catherine is…
Interview with Andrea Lema – Fighting against plastic pollution and for zero waste models in Ecuador
By Nuri Max Steinmann. Andrea Lema is an young Ecuadorian activist fighting for the rights of nature in her home country. She studied economics and has a master’s degree on environmental and sustainable development. She is the founder of the NGO ‘PlastiCo. Project’, which aims to reduce single-use plastic and promotes the implementation of zero waste models…
Interview with Lauren Fritz – Founder of The Greenest Blue, marine naturalist and writer
By Jennifer Worth. Lauren Fritz is a writer, wildlife photographer and marine naturalist who has spent the last few years country hopping all over the world as a wildlife guide for various marine based eco-excursions. Her passion for the ocean and its inhabitants has taken her from Hawai’i and the San Juan islands in the…
