Marine gives Cook Island students valuable experience
Cook Islander Teuru Tiraa-Passfield is currently completing a second stint of work experience with the Ministry of Marine Resources (MMR). Tiraa-Passfield is studying Marine and Coastal Ecology and the 20 year old has just completed the first year of her degree at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand.
Tiraa-Passfield spends her holidays back home in the Cook Islands gaining valuable practical experience. “I come back in the holidays and work for the ministry. This time last year I started working with them. Before I started... I did a marine science paper at USP. I needed some help from the ministry so they asked if I was interested in a learning programme to see if it was a career I was interested in. I decided it was.”
The most recent project she has been a part of is the Trochus harvest in Aitutaki, where she spent three weeks assisting with the monitoring of the harvest. This was her second visit to Aitutaki as part of her work experience. “Last year I went up for Marine for the Paua spawning. They have a Paua hatchery in Amuri, in Aitutaki. Every year they induce spawning and then they raise young ones. So I went and did that last year. That was cool going back this time - I got to see my little ones!”
Tiraa-Passfield commented that because of the very different marine environment in New Zealand in comparison to the Cook Islands, some aspects of the programme she is completing are not relevant to the work carried out in the Cook Islands. “New Zealand is not ideal. I would like to go to Hawaii or even USP or something to do my degree.” However it is the work she does with MMR that she credits with keeping her learning relevant to the marine environment here in the Cook Islands. “If I come back and there is a job for me... I will know what to do. It’s not like I’ve gone and done my degree and then they’ll have to teach me everything that’s different about here. I’m learning along the way. I’m getting the basic knowledge about here, from here, and then I’m doing the science in New Zealand. It’s all good!”
The student will return to Auckland to begin her second year when the semester begins in 2012, but she will be back for more experience on local marine projects as soon as she can. “It makes me more interested [to] try and identify things that I’ve learnt and apply it.” -Ngariki Ngatae

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