Working together for the benefit of our Marine Environments

Approximately 70% of earth’s surface is covered by oceans. Sustainable exploitation of marine resources needs the best science and technology available to establish efficient and sustainable environmental management. This is why research institutions such as SAIAB, which is a national scientific resource for knowledge and understanding of the biodiversity and functioning of globally significant aquatic ecosystems, participate in conferences such as the Southern African Marine Science Symposium. Held every three years, this gathering of scientists from all over the world results in new knowledge of and unexpected benefits for marine environments.

SAIAB students and Aquatic Biologist Dr David Gows

The South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB) recently helped convene the 14th Southern African Marine Science Symposium (SAMSS) with the Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA). ECSA publishes the well-known and highly respected journal, Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Science, and each year organises one international conference. SAMSS is a very important and well attended meeting for marine scientists from all over the world to network and build good working relationships.

Under the theme ‘Estuarine, Costal and Oceanic Ecosystems – Breaking down the Boundaries’, this conference provided researchers from the northern and southern hemispheres the opportunity to mingle and exchange ideas and to establish links between estuaries and coastal ecosystems. “It was a very interesting conference, especially in the field of Fishery Management and also a chance to meet researchers I’ve read about which gave me an opportunity to establish collaborations,” said SAIAB Senior Aquatic Biologist, Dr Monica Mwale.

This year the event was held at Rhodes University in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. As a research facility of the National Research Foundation (NRF) and an Associated Institute of Rhodes University, SAIAB works closely with the university’s Department of Ichthyology and Fishery Science (DIFS). This relationship has been maintained since 1981 when DIFS used the facilities of the JLB Smith Institute of Ichthyology, now known as SAIAB, for lectures. SAIAB and DIFS maintain strong ties through the SAIAB library and SAIAB researchers supervise students from DIFS.

Various scientists from SAIAB represented the institution at SAMSS in a number of categories: these included Estuaries, Top Predators in Marine Ecosystems, Invasion Biology, Fisheries Management, Genetics and Phytogeography, Biodiversity and Biogeography.  “It was very interesting to see how different people observe issues around global change and the different approaches to it,” added Mwale. These are large scale environmental changes on earth; changes that have global reach such as deviations in atmospheric composition or ocean circulation.  Mwale further shares that, “there was a big section on estuaries. It was very interesting to see the work that other SAIAB researchers do on estuaries". There were also exciting talks linking to SAIAB on large marine ecosystems and oceanography “The conference was very significant for project logistics and working together,” added Dr Gavin Gouws, an aquatic biologist at SAIAB.

Networking session at SAMS

Nosiphiwo Springbok, a Masters candidate, found the conference very insightful and interesting particularly in the field of fish conservation. “Researchers shared a lot of information with us as aspiring scientists and it was good to be exposed to experts that commented and advised on our work, which made us gain confidence in our science,” she added. Moqebelo Morallana, also doing his Masters in Ichthyology, shares Springbok’s sentiments; he adds, “SAIAB was well represented with a huge part on estuary ecology which I was not familiar with being a genetics student and for me that was very informative.”

“SAMSS was well organised, we had an excellent attendance reaching all our targets. It was great to see student participation,” said SAMSS Assistant Conference Co-ordinator, Kendall Crous.