Amazing Abroad Internship Experience

Fantastic experience working on the GIS seagrass mapping team. Amazing colleagues and great teamwork attitute. The degradation of Posidonia Oceanica seagrass meadows is a major concern. Throughout the Mediterranean Sea, Posidonia Seagrass meadows have been disappearing since the early 1900s and there are many These marine ecosystems play a fundamental role in the health and productivity of many Mediterranean marine habitats. The Archipelagos Marine Conservation Institute has developed a low-cost method to map the extent of the meadows. This technique uses sonar recording equipment which is later processed using Reef Master and QGIS to create area layers of seagrass meadows. Posidonia Oceanica is one of the oldest living organisms on Earth. A single clonal colony has been estimated to be over 100,000 years old. P. ocehhcanica seagrass beds are protected habitats that are fundamental to the health and productivity of Mediterranean marine ecosystems. This species is mostly destroyed by bleaching from rising water temperatures and also by boat anchors which can tear gashes into meadows ranging up to 150ft. Fishing, pollution, and ocean acidification also make the situation worse. The Archipelagos Marine Conservation Institute is working to correct the errors done by The Hellenic Centre of Marine Research (HCMR) published in 2015. In the maps released by the HCMR,cc there was a substantial manipulation and underestimation of the actual seagrass extent. There are freely available satellite imagery with seagrass meadows visible; while the maps released by the HCMR show these areas as only having seagrass coverage of 0-5%. It is very dangerous because the islands where this was most prevalent are in proximity to Greek military bases. They (just like the US navy) are frequently doing ammunitions testing in critical marine habitats. Not to mention there are decades of barbaric fishing practices ranging from deep bottom trawling to dynamite fishing and everything in between. The internship helped me to learn how marine conservation works in remote islands of the Mediterranean and how the movement to save our waters is only just beginning. With a more cooperative attitude and less of a focus on the blame game, many conservation objectives could be achieved. Having a global approach to environmental protection is so critical in 2021 and I am so thankful to have this marine conservation internship in Greece to give me a global perspective.