Students board S.A. Agulhas to experience Monaco Explorations |05 November 2022

Students from different schools in Seychelles on Monday had the opportunity to tour the South African oceanographic and supply ship S.A. Agulhas II, and learn more about the scientific expedition, the Monaco Explorations, taking place within the Western Indian Ocean.

The first group, hailing from Perseverance secondary school were lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a part of a long-term project, ‘Adopt a float’, offered by the Principality of Monaco to the government of Seychelles. In addition to signing the profiling float, the group had the privilege of naming it, choosing to call it ‘SeyBlue’.

As explained by senior scientist Herve Claustre, the ‘adopt a float’ project is a multidisciplinary education programme that invites schoolchildren from around the world to discover the global ocean and the importance of studying it, to better understand and protect it. It offers students a scientific, cultural and civic approach to the ocean.

The profiling float is able to measure various properties in the ocean including salinity, temperature, chlorophyll, light and nitrate concentration in the water which characterise the health of the ocean. Through a digital platform, students are able to follow the journey of their float, familiarise themselves with the scientific data it measures which are accessible in real time on an interactive map shared with the scientists. They can also use the educational resources made available to study marine science.

‘SeyBlue’ was deployed by the S.A Agulhas II, on the way to the Saya de Malha Bank, where the team of scientists, students and others will be spending 16 days carrying out research and field studies.

While journeying from La Reunion to Seychelles, around fifteen floats have been deployed, bringing the total number to around 3000 profiling floats which carry out measurements from the surface down to 2km depth. The floats have been deployed all over the world’s oceans. The duration of operation is approximately 3 to 5 years. Some 30 floats are to be deployed during the entire Western Indian Ocean expedition.

“We will deploy it after leaving Seychelles, and for nearly five years, every ten days, the float will emerge to the surface from a depth of 2km to transmit all the data through satellite. The data is open access which means that all scientists can access the data, as well as the schools,” he said.

“We have developed this educational programme on top of the science, to use the float as a pretext for the kids to understand the ocean better and develop ocean literacy,” Mr Claustre noted.

It is essential that the ocean observation takes place over long periods, if the effects of climate change are to be tracked and analysed accurately.

Mr Claustre added that working with local communities and stakeholders is vital, for retrieval of the floats after the three to five-year timeframe for which its battery lasts, to allow for recalibration and redeployment.

In addition to adopting the float, the students were led on a tour of the vessel where they saw first-hand the specialised equipment onboard, and interacted with those involved in the expeditions.

Other groups of students, namely, from the Baie St Anne Praslin primary school and the International School of Seychelles (ISS) also toured the vessel, partaking in a short interactive activity about microplastics collected in the manta net.

Seychellois scientist Magali Rocamora, one of six Seychellois scientists who took part in the expedition from Mauritius to Reunion, and to Aldabra, helped to facilitate the session.

She noted that the experience was an extremely interesting one, especially given the fact that they were involved in plankton sampling using a variety of equipment not presently available in Seychelles.

“As a young scientist and researcher, it was really interesting to have been exposed to these methods. It was also an opportunity to engage with other professionals who are working with corals, connectivity, sea turtles, and currents and such. It was truly incredible,” Ms Rocamora noted.

The expedition has since Tuesday proceeded towards the Saya de Malha bank and will be there until November 17, navigating to Saint Brandon for two days after.

The aim of the expedition is to explore the Western Indian Ocean, one of the less studied oceans across the globe, towards strengthening ocean governance.

The accompanying photographs show some highlights of the students’ visit on board the S.A. Agulhas II on Monday.

Laura Pillay

Photos by Joena Meme