Overview

As a Love The Oceans Field Assistant you form an essential part of our team. During your program, you will be support the following activities:

Megafauna surveys

Humpback whales typically migrate through Mozambique between June and November. LTO collects data on these magnificent creatures, looking at surface behaviour and pod formation, never before studied in our area. We also collect photographic IDs of whale sharks and manta rays, which reside year-round through the bay.

As part of LTO’s team, you will be armed with a camera, binoculars and survey sheets in order to record sightings of humpback whales and any other megafauna that passes through. You will also help  deploy hydrophones so we can support vocalisation data collection on humpback whales.

Fisheries research

Fisheries research will help us to assess how sustainable the fisheries are. From these assessments, we hope to determine minimum landing size for individual species, as well as changing certain fishing legislation.

Every day on fisheries you will be collecting fisheries data and recording it into the logs along with the corresponding images (check shark and ray IDs with a field specialist if unsure), and ensure equipment is cleaned and stored.

Coral reef surveys

LTO supports collects coral reef data in order to lobby for a marine protected area which could enhance eco-tourism, bringing more money into the region and an alternate income to unsustainable fishing. We strongly believe we’re in a biodiversity hotspot and we need coral reef data to prove our area is worth protecting.

You will be diving and snorkelling to help with surveys. You will identify different fish and coral species you see on each dive, log them afterward. These dives require confident divers with good buoyancy. PADI Open Water is a prerequisite for our programs, you can come out a week early and do it with us in country.

Ocean Trash Research

Unfortunately plastic pollution is a human-induced problem the world over.  Mozambique is no different. We’re on the edge of the Indian Ocean Garbage Patch which spans approximately 5 million kilometres squared and is made up of a huge range of trash, from sludge, to plastics, to glass. One of the most efficient and easiest way to remove trash from the ocean is through beach cleans.

We’ve committed to doing at least 2 beach cleans a week and weighing and logging what we collect to work out if it is international or local trash and what we can do to reduce this pollution.

After we have collected the trash off the beaches, we process it – wash, cut & dry it – and then we pack it into what we call eco-bricks. Our eco-bricks are 2L drinks bottles thrown out by resorts here, which we pack tightly with beach clean trash. these eco-bricks are then used in construction at the local schools as part of our projects.

Teaching and painting at the local schools

Educating the next generation of fishermen in schools about sustainable fishing and why the ocean is important helps the local community protect their biodiversity assets.

As part of your field assistant role, you will help at Guinjata and Paindane School Monday-Friday. You will be teaching 10-13 year olds about the marine environment, as well as painting classrooms which are in much need of some TLC. You will not be partaking in construction work as we prefer to employ local builders and put money back into the local economy.

We ask for our volunteers to bring out 5kg of donations (books or stationery) for the children as well as any marine themed toys.

Swimming Lessons

Surprisingly few local children are confident in the water. Part of our commitment to the local community is teaching local children swimming on Saturday afternoons.

We do this to improve water safety skills in the community, with the aim of igniting passion for the marine environment in the younger generations. Learning to swim opens up the door to a range of other activities for this generation. We hope for a future where the local community both want, and are able to, experience the underwater world for themselves.

On Saturday afternoons, under the supervision of an STA qualified instructor you’ll help teach swimming to local kids as part of your program.

 

We highly recommend joining us for the week safari, making it a 5 week trip, since it is not too far away from Jangamo and is another incredible experience.

Our field assistants have Saturday mornings and Sundays to participate in optional extra activities such as surf lessons, boating trips or just relaxing on the beach. Saturday afternoons will be spent teaching the local school children how to swim.

After you have settled in, your program will start with an intense training week. We aim to ensure that everyone on the program has the same level of knowledge about LTO, the conservation work we do and your role and responsibilities as an LTO field assistant. In this week you’ll learn about your next month in Mozambique and we will get to know each other better, refresh diving skills and learn new skills as you come up to speed with the research requirements.

Conservation science is very complex so at Love The Oceans we aim to provide you with the basic knowledge and skills to allow you to go on to develop your own projects and continue with Conservation Science. You will participate in a series of educational lectures led by our marine biologists during your first week with us, based around our specific areas of research and community outreach. Want to use our data for your dissertation? No problem. You’ll spend the remaining time with us collecting data on the above activities and you can utilise our historic data set for your studies.

Program cost: £1995 (£2995 including safari). This price includes:
– full board (B/L/D) excluding drinks
– seafront accommodation
– all activities (dives/snorkels/whale watches) required by program
– training, guidance and mentoring by qualified marine biologists
– airport transfers from Inhambane airport
– career & CV workshop
– Scientific dive training
– Diving kit hire
– Local cultural tour
– Love the Oceans T-shirt
– 24 hour on-site & UK office support
– Pre-departure and Visa support