At home on the deep, blue sea
Students led on a voyage of discovery, write Myrtle Ryan Bukeka Silekwa
SALT water flows through Nikki Chapman’s veins. So, the Blue Fund’s Ocean Stewards programme, which champions the protection of our beleaguered oceans, is the perfect home for her.
The programme aims to upskill marine biology students, providing them with opportunities to work alongside top marine scientists.
While Chapman is not a marine scientist, she is well versed in what’s happening in depths of the ocean.
She could probably also teach a few scientists a trick or two when it comes to deploying state-of-the-art deep search equipment, including an ROV – a remotely operated vehicle that can relay live video footage from the seabed to monitors on board research vessels like the RV Angra Pequena.
The Angra Pequena is like a second home to Chapman, who helps take marine science students on deep-sea research cruises as part of a broader mission to extend the network of Marine Protected Areas in South Africa.
Through the Ocean Stewards programme,
For many of the students the excitement of going to sea for the first time is mingled with the fear of falling overboard.
Chapman helps them conquer such fear.
She also gets the students to attend conferences, like last year’s World Whale Congress and the annual Ocean Stewards science sessions.
Through these activities the Ocean Stewards learn more about what’s topping the agenda of marine science in the world today.
At last year’s science session at the University of Kwazulu-natal, Professor George Branche, the co-author of Two Oceans – an unrivalled field guide covering marine life on South Africa’s west and east coasts – described the Ocean Stewards programme as one of the most dynamic marine science initiatives in South Africa.
“It offers a wonderful blend of practical, handson experience, training in modern survey methods, and the challenge to think for oneself, as well as the personal friendships that breach barriers across age, race and language,” said Branche. It’s these friendships that Chapman has fostered over the past three years, developing a close bond with future marine scientists, some of whom have set their sights on following in the footsteps of people like Branche.
“I’m really just like a mom to these students, and the family is growing.
“We had 16 students in both 2015 and 2016. There were 17 in 2017 and this year again 16,” says Chapman.
That’s a total family of 65 Ocean Stewards.
How did she get to be on board all of this?
Chapman attributes it all to a teacher.
At Kingsway High School in Amanzimtoti geography was her favourite subject and her teacher, Colin Erickson, was passionate about the environment.
“He really inspired me,” says Chapman.
She recalls a day on the beach after a storm.
“I was in Grade 9, I think. I found all these particles in the sand like little broken sea shells. I was fascinated and started collecting them.
“Maybe that was the day it kicked in for me,” she says. “I am not a researcher, nor will I ever be, but the stuff that washed out of the ocean that day amazed me. It was really cool.”
Her first job – fresh from school in 1998 – was with the Wildlife and Environment Society of SA in the Drakensberg.
In 2002, she moved to England, where she studied for her BSC in environmental management through Unisa. It was a tough time for the next seven years, studying while working full-time at the Centre for Ecology and Sutton Ecology Centre in the UK.
But it has been worth it and taken her on adventures and to places that many people can only dream of, from serving as environmental educator in exotic Thailand to epic expeditions on board the Angra Pequena.
Chapman views meeting Harris in 2015 as a turning point in her life.
“It was a meeting of the minds when I met Jean,” recalls Chapman, who has since helped Harris develop the Ocean Stewards programme from day one through to the latest expedition currently under way – exploring deep-sea canyons on the north and south coast.
Beyond taking future marine scientists on research cruises, Chapman dreams of using the Ocean Stewards programme to reach out to those still in school.
“It’s important that we get people to cherish the environment from a very early age,” says Chapman.
“They should understand the connection between the ocean and themselves, between food and themselves, between the air we breathe and the ocean,” she says. – Roving Reporters
Bukeka Silekwa is a Rosebank College journalism graduate taking part in the Roving Reporters environmental journalism training programme supported by the Human Elephant Foundation and the Sunday Tribune.