I am delighted to share my first first-authored peer reviewed journal article, The relationship between macroalgae taxa and human disturbance on central Pacific coral reefs, now out in Marine Pollution Bulletin! … More New publication: The relationship between macroalgae taxa and human disturbance on central Pacific coral reefs
This blog post originally appeared on the Ocean Leaders blog, which highlights the work of Ocean Leaders fellows. Please consider giving them a follow on social media at @oceanleaders on Twitter or OceanLeadersUBC on Facebook! This past weekend, I was on a discussion panel for the documentary film Anote’s Ark, which follows the former present of … More “We are not drowning, we are fighting”: Pacific Islanders want you to know that they still have hope for their islands
Recently, I was invited to be a part of last weekend’s episode of the CBC radio show, Quirks and Quarks. The episode explored the ways that scientists spent their summers. It was my first recorded interview, and I was thrilled to be asked to participate. I was also extremely nervous. Fortunately both the producer, Mark Crawley, and the … More Interview: Scientific research and beauty mix on the Marshall Islands
In Marshallese, iokwe means hello, goodbye, and I love you. Translated literally, it means “you are a rainbow.” It’s not a word that’s reserved for family members or even for friends; if you walk down the street in Majuro, strangers who pass you greet you with iokwe. It is, in my opinion, a beautiful way to tell people … More Bar loe kom (see you later), Marshall Islands!
This is the second of a two-part series about my time in Ebon Atoll. The first post can be found here. Ebon Atoll is known for two things: its beauty and its mosquitos (which are gigantic and plentiful). The main island, Ebon Ebon, is long and narrow. In many places, the ocean is separated from the … More A glimpse of Ebon (Ebon Atoll part 2 of 2)
This is the first of a two-part series about my time in Ebon Atoll. The second part can be accessed here. Last Thursday, I hopped in a terrifyingly tiny airplane and joined staff from the Marshall Islands Marine Resource Authority (MIMRA) on a visit to Ebon, the most southern atoll in the Marshall Islands. We were … More Hard at work in paradise (Ebon Atoll, part 1 of 2)
This week, I started my internship with the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Agency (MIMRA), rented a bike for the summer, and generally got settled into a day-to-day routine. Everyone here has been fantastic, and I’ve made some wonderful friends who have gone out of their way to make sure I feel at home, both inside … More It’s official, I’ve fallen in love with Majuro
On Thursday, we wrapped up our final day of diving in Majuro. Our first day was a bit of a rude awakening compared to the relatively clean reefs of Arno, but we were pleased to discover some beautiful sites on our last three days of diving. My first impressions are pretty much what we hypothesized, … More Wrapping up our research
We couldn’t dive on Friday and Saturday (July 1 and 2nd) because of a national holiday in the Marshall Islands, National Fishermen’s Day! We also ended up not diving today (Sunday), because one of our core team members wasn’t feeling well, so we took an extra rest day. I think it’s turned out to be … More Settling in to life in Majuro
On Saturday (Friday in North America), we arrived in Majuro, the capital of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. We went to work pretty much immediately after our plane touched down. Our research team is Simon Donner, my advisor at UBC, Diane Thompson and Emma Reed from Boston University (read Diane’s blog here), and me (with a HUGE … More Adventures in Arno Atoll
