Held for a week (22-31/7), the Department of Aquatic Resources Management (MSP), Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sciences (FPIK) IPB University, successfully held a Summer Course themed Highland to Ocean (H2O). This year’s summer course carried the topic ‘Tropical Aquatic Biodiversity and Management from Mountain to the Sea: Emphasize on Blue Carbon’.

The Summer Course was attended by participants from Canada, Madagascar, the Comoro Islands, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Indonesia. The instructors were also very varied, namely Dr. Hollie Booth (Oxford University, England), Prof. Dato Dr. Aileen Tan Shau (Universiti Sains Malaysia), Dr. Sebastian Ferse (DAAD Germany), Novi Susetyo Adi (Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries of the Republic of Indonesia), and a number of IPB University MSP lecturers.

Head of the MSP Department of IPB University, Prof. Hefni Effendi explained that this summer course is a combination of enrichment of learning materials in the classroom and field practice. The activity carries a serious concept by recognizing tropical aquatic biodiversity and having fun enjoying the uniqueness of aquatic ecosystems in rivers and small tropical islands.

“One of the field activities is to assess river quality in terms of the diversity of bioindicators that characterize aquatic ecosystems that are still good. Continued with body rafting as the fun side of this activity,” explained Prof. Hefni as the organizer of the summer course.

Next, participants visited the Animalium Museum managed by the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in Cibinong, Bogor. Of course, aquatic animals were also introduced. With the guide provided by BRIN, it added to the field knowledge gained.

Another field excursion was to visit Pramuka Island in the Seribu Islands. During the visit to the small island of Pramuka, participants did a beachwalk while being introduced to the coastal ecosystem which is a component of the small island, namely mangrove forests, coral reefs, and seagrass beds.

Sea farming managed by the Center for Coastal and Marine Resources Studies (PKSPL) was also visited by summer course participants. At this location, participants received an explanation about shrimp farming in floating net cages (KJA) in the sea.

“Participants enthusiastically participated in the excursion to this island, because they could also snorkel and dive to enjoy the underwater beauty of the Seribu Islands,” he continued.

The summer course of the MSP Department of IPB University was opened by Prof. Iskandar Z Siregar, Vice Chancellor of IPB University for Global Connectivity, Cooperation and Alumni, and Prof. Fredinan Yulianda as Dean of FPIK.

The materials presented in this summer course include river ecology, fisheries and conservation, fish biology and ecology, aquatic bioindicator, biology and ecology of intertidal ecosystem, ecology of small island ecosystem, biology and ecology of coral reef, and blue economy and carbon trading.