Great Week in Cork Harbour on the RV Celtic Voyager with NUI Galway's Earth and Ocean and Marine Science Undergraduates
November is a big month for SMARTSEASCHOOL training on the Celtic Voyager. We've just finished three two day courses with NUI Galway undergraduates and are feeling pretty buzzed about it. We had great weather throughout and covered a lot of ground and sampling stations between Marino Point and Ringabella Bay a couple of miles beyond Roches Point.
The schedule is always pretty tight and there's a lot to fit in but we got there. Our aim is to trace gradients in the oceanography, biology and bathymetry of the harbour by taking CTDs, Grab and Core Samples at a series of stations from Marino point to as far offshore as the weather and time permits each day. Along the way we take a sample of fisheries and macro-mega benthos with a beam trawl and check out the seabed out with a mini ROV. We even manage to get an afternoon of seabed mapping with the Multi Beam Echosounder.
On the first day of each course we guide students through each application and then on the second day they show us how its done. Its hands on and if student feedback is anything to go by it works and its a lot of fun. One other thing we do is set the students a role play scenario where we ask them to design and Environmental Impact Survey for an infrastructure project in the harbour. This year we're looking at tidal barrages and climate change.
What do the students think? We ask them at the end of every survey for their feedback and already just a couple of days after the first week this is what we're getting back:
"I found the whole thing greatly beneficial and useful. I especially loved the beam trawl and sorting fish as I have a great interest in fisheries science. In addition I liked learning about multi-beam which was completely new to me."
"I think the group work with the prep for the presentations was brilliant, I really benefited from group interactions as you learn a lot from peers as well as the instructors!"
"A broad range of topics was covered on this training and I'm not too sure right now what else you could fit in!"
"I really enjoyed the experience, perhaps if the programme ran for longer we could have learned more or gained even more experience in the methodology, but in the time frame it is being carried out in now I think we learned a lot of valuable skills that can be used in the work force."
"Greatly enjoyed the experience, a third day would be great too."
"I found the training with equipment / instruments and software such as SIS most useful as this is experience that we can use or put on a CV or cover letter and state in an interview or application.
This weekend we welcome Maynooth University's Climate Science MSc Students and then the Earth Science undergraduates from UCC. All we can say for now is thanks a million to the NUI Galway Undergraduates for bringing your huge appetites for learning new skills and for teaching us so much!
One more thing, don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to know more about SMART training programmes on the Celtic Voyager.