Finally, I chose the largest island in the southern hemisphere to acquire further educa on and implement my PhD research project at Cur n University, in Western Australia (WA). Here, I have fallen in love with a fantas c marine environment and their conserva on works. Par cularly, Shoal water Marine Parks and Ro nest Island, which are part of one of the largest A Class Reserves in the Indian Ocean. This is a unique habitat for a range of flora and fauna such including approximately 10 thousand quokkas, 16 species of bu erflies and 360 species of fish, of which some cannot be found in WA coastal waters (Ro nest Founda on Inc. 2014). In par cular, they have abundant and large Sargassum beds around these areas. Sargassum is one of the seaweeds distributed globally and is considered an important source for food, fer lizers and bioenergy extrac ons. Sargassum also plays a vital role in CO2 absorp on, contribu ng in reduc on of greenhouse gases (Fig. 2).
Figure 2 - Sargassum beds around Ro nest Island, Western Australia
NF-POGO alumni apprecia on Memories of HABs training course in Bolinao, Philippines Nguyen Thi Thai Hoa Ins tute for Environment and Resources, Vietnam Wikispage: h p://www.nf-pogo-alumni.org/~Nguyen+Hoa
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t is said that there are events that have a power to change one’s life. I had always doubted that un l I had one myself. The event – being in HABs training course held in Bolinao Marine Laboratory, Philippines – is actually a turning point in my scien fic career and le in my heart unforge able feelings. In three weeks, we were introduced to a wide range of fields include taxonomy and phylogene cs, physiology and toxins, geology, physical and chemical oceanography, ecology, hydrodynamics, modeling and remote sensing by enthusiasc professors. All this knowledge is really new to me. Although some mes I could not deny that it made me stressful, overall I had to thank the teachers on this programme for enlightening me to such useful subjects. One of unforge able periods is when we did our group final project and to experiment many unnamed emo onal levels. In an effort to include as much as possible the informa on and methods we were taught in the final project, in addi on to other knowledge, we decided to do undertake a modeling project. We managed many hours to extract sea bathymetry data from Google Earth. A er that, we faced the challenge raised by the lack of boundary condi ons. Following many googling hours, finally, we found some data that could be used. However, we then found we had a serious problem, although we could set up a model, we could not run it. As the me for the presenta on became ever closer, some me we thought to give up, but as we had worked so hard to collect the data, the thought of giving up really hurt us. So, we kept trying, try-and-fail, each me this happened, we all worried and felt disappointed. But then no word can express our happiness when we ran it successfully in the last second. We burst with happiness, we were the only group who used modeling techniques. We got congrats from organizers, professors and other friends. It was really a fantas c moment. Seeing our result was highly es mated, to me, I felt so proud and felt more confident about what I am able to do. Apart from knowledge and works, I will never forget the meaningful and joyful me we Bolinao Pogonians had together, and the friendship we built. Now, it seems that every me I close my eyes I s ll see everything in Bolinao. The view deck where we have meals and exci ng pingpong games a er intense learning hours. It was also the place where Pogonians taught me my first ping-pong lesson, where I had first match and first feeling of winning a game. Ping-pong matches were so exci ng that we actually some me talked that we should ask the organizers for POGO ping-pong cer ficates. I also s ll remember a path from the classroom to the dorm with many trees along two sides, it was so peaceful that made me feel like I was at home. Especially, pavement/side walk of the path to dorm, where I spent evenings with a dear Thailand girl, laying down, looking to the sky, looking for stars and enjoying the sea breeze. I will not forget the cultural trip, an unplanned journey and the ocean nursery which actually raised my love to ocean. All experiments and emo ons in Bolinao together are my mo va on and encourage me to live and work be er and go further in oceanic science.
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Contact us: Suriyan.S@chula.ac.th, info@nf-pogo-alumni.org, lilian.krug@nf-pogo-alumni.org NANO website: www.nf-pogo-alumni.org
