Overview

Welcome to Marine Conservation Cambodia (MCC)! We are a conservation group and Marine Research Centre based in Kep Province, Cambodia. We are situated on the island Koh Seh which is roughly 13km from the mainland town of Kep. By joining MCC you will become part of our international team, dedicated to protecting Kep Archipelago. You will gain knowledge on local fishing communities, local ecosystems and the solutions we put in place to defend their livelihoods. In a very threatened environment, you will dedicate yourself to protect this unique ecosystem.

The Project

In January 2018, MCC introduced The Marine Harvesting Networks Project to monitor and in combination with our Artificial Reef-Anti Trawler Devices, work against Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported fishing (IUU) practices in Kep Archipelago. By providing scientific data for governmental authorities MCC aims to document and combat illegal activities such as bottom trawling as a main driver of habitat destruction.

Your Duties

Your duties will be in relation with your passions and own skill set:

• Data collection and analysis on illegal vessel movement and identification
• Support of scientific proposal writing
• Field trips to fish markets and fishing communities
• Evaluations of intra- and international law and policies
• Reports for the government
• Rapid environmental assessments to map decline of seagrass

There is also the opportunity for interns that stay longer than 3 months to create their own research within the project with the potential to publish the results in a peer-reviewed paper.

For all the activities mentioned above we will give you full training and support to get you to a level where your data can be used within our reports and publications. If you decide to design your own project prior to your arrival, you will have the opportunity to manage yourself and lead a project from the beginning to end, with all the support you would need.

The training includes, but is not restricted to:

• Scientific research techniques
• Scientific writing
• Basic GIS (QGIS) and statistic (RStudio) software
• Vessel identification
• Commercial fish species identification
• ASEAN law- and legislation

Internship requirements

You will live and work on Koh Seh, a small near desert island where our only neighbour is a Marine police outpost. The MCC team is ready to act 24/7 all year round stop destructive fishing and support local fishermen in the Archipelago. You will be expected to contribute to our projects 5 days a week, while on the weekend, you will be free to go on the mainland, or stay on the Island just to relax or to be on watch with us. Passion, creativeness and independence are important values to be successfully integrated in the various activities.

By joining the MCC team, you will have the chance to participate in a direct way to the protection and restoration of the ocean. For the past 9 years MCC has pioneered marine research and conservation in Cambodia. Even with all our hard work, many places remain uncharted and we need help to fill the knowledge gaps about Cambodian marine ecosystems. Your work will have a direct impact on the health of the Kep Archipelago, as well as contributing to reports for the national government, which will influence Cambodian marine policies for the next decade.

We are looking for dedicated, motivated and hard-working interns, able to commit for a minimum internship period of two months as the training will take time. We are looking for those who will commit to early mornings and late nights, with an eye for the bigger picture and the strong desire to save the ocean. We give preference to students and recent graduates, ideally with a background in (environmental-) law and legislation, wildlife crime, or any marine conservation related discipline, but everyone is welcome to apply.

Application process

There is a fee associated with this internship, which covers the following:

• all food, water, accommodation;
• transport to and from the mainland to the project island;
• IUU fishing research training;
• scuba diving (if qualified);

and the opportunity to get involved in activities and training at MCC, such as dolphin research or artificial reef development and management.

Please send a letter of motivation and CV to alissa.boehm@googlemail.com or visit our website https://marineconservationcambodia.org for more information.

Applications are open until position is filled (5 positions available).
Start Date: April 2020

For questions you can contact our External Relations Director: seahorseconservation@gmail.com