There were many things to do today, and it was a good day. This morning we met in the classroom at 8am to review our homework together, and prepare for the day ahead.
Evaluate the Video Diary
Our big task today was visiting the local schools!! We practiced how to deliver our new knowledge about the sea, coastal areas, and environmental issues. We also practiced how to tell these stories in an interesting and engaging way – one of our stories is about mobula rays and is called Mobu’s Adventure.
Practice for Nice Presentations
Our first school visit was to the local elementary school SDN Labuan Bajo 1, where we gave seminars to 60 children from classes 4A, 4B, 5A and 5B. It was great to be able to share our stories and experiences to the students, who were very intelligent and friendly. They seemed so interested in the information we had to share.
Story Telling to SDN Labuan Bajo 1 Students
Next we went to the tourism high school SMK 1 Labuan Bajo. We shared our knowledge and experience about manta and mobula rays, the tourism potential in Labuan Bajo, the problems that can arise from tourism development, and some of the solutions that can help to mitigate these problems. We were excited to have a discussion with grade 11 students, who were very active and contribute their own ideas and opinions.
Discussion with SMK 1 Labuan Bajo Students
After a short break for lunch, we went back to the classroom to do our ‘Check In”. ‘Check In’ is our routine activity every day where we discuss our experiences of the day, and any obstacles, challenges or barriers that we face. I find our ‘Check In’ sessions very useful, and it has helped us to build a stronger team.
Next Dita led us through a game called the Island Exercise. We were given a challenging scenario where eight people had been stranded on a remote island, and only one could be rescued. Our challenge was to discuss, debate and negotiate to decide which one of the eight characters should be rescued. We learned a lot about different personalities and negotiation techniques, and learned a lot about ourselves!
Andy also gave us a game to play. He scattered different types of candies on the table, and explained that some types of candy were commercially valuable fish, others were juveniles, some were dolphins, turtles and other bycatch, while still others were corals and sponges. Andy allowed us to choose our fishing gears – spoons representing trawls and chopsticks representing pole-and-line – and then let us go fishing while he enforced different types of fishery management. We learned about maximum sustainable yield, maximum economic yield, seasonal closures and tradable catch quotas. So much new knowledge, and I think tradable catch quotas could be a very good idea for Indonesia fisheries.
Game about Management of Fishing
As the day became night, we went to visit some of the dive operators to plan our activities for the next day. Blue Marlin Dive and Divine Diving are both going to Karang Makassar tomorrow, so its time to prepare our equipment, have dinner, and then recharge our bodies ready for tomorrow’s activities!
