The volcanic island, Jeju Island, is the largest island southwest off the coast of South Korea. The island measures approximately 73km (45 miles) across, east to west, and 41km (25 miles) from north to south. The population is about 625,000 inhabitants.

So what’s that got to do with the price of divemaster training in Maldives, you might ask… well absolutely nothing, actually!

What it does mean is that the Faculty of Marine Studies is moving forward with plans to develop our capacity for marine research & conservation studies. We have been seeking like-minded international partners amongst the world’s top universities and as of December 2016, we have been discussing the possibility of collaborative work with the Laboratory of Marine Bioresource Technology in the College of Ocean Sciences at Jeju National University.

As part of our collaboration, members of the Faculty of Marine Studies were invited to attend a special Seminar on Marine Biodiversity of the Laccadive Sea held at the College of Ocean Sciences at Jeju. FMS Dean, Dr Sham’aa Abdullah Hameed [Anna] & Faculty founder Hussain Rasheed [Sendi] attended the seminar to present their work in this area.

Also presenting at the seminar were teams from the Institute of Oceanology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as a team from the College of Food Science & Engineering from the Ocean University of China.

Following the talks, Sendi presented the Jeju team with two varieties of seaweed samples collected from the Maldives for further studies under the MoU between our two institutions. In return, we recieved samples of cosmetics made from soft coral extract from the waters surrounding Jeju Island. Inshaa Allah we will produce a similar line of products made with bioresources from the Maldives in the near future.

It was eye-opening to take a tour of the laboratory undertaking testing of our seaweed at the College of Ocean Sciences. With assistance from Jeju University, we aim to set up our laboratory at Sun Island so that we can extract the bioactive material from the seaweed percluding the need to ship out large quantities of the raw material.

Further visits to other sites of interest followed; the most notable of these was to the aquaculture facility, HAITIAN; which cultivates seahorses for use in anti-hypertensive medicine and antioxidant teas & cosmetics. The facility also cultures & ships tropical fish for aquariums worldwide.

Jeju Island is the only place where all four Internationally Designated Areas occur at the same location. These include Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes World Heritage Site, Jeju Island Biosphere Reserve, Jeju Island UNESCO Global Geopark and 4 RAMSAR wetland sites.

At the UNESCO Global Geopark, our erstwhile scuba divers encountered the amazing Haenyeo – the women divers of Jeju; a community of women, some in their 80th year of life, who dive WITHOUT any scuba gear to depths over 10 meters to gather shellfish & seaweed. With their knowledge of the sea and marine life, the Jeju haenyeo harvest for up to 7 hours a day, 90 days of the year, holding their breath for over one minute for every dive and making a unique verbal sound when resurfacing. Truly an inspiring sight to see!

And so it is with renewed vigour and brains brimming with new ideas that Sendi and Anna head home – energised by the new possibilities and avenues to explore in their determination to develop the marine research and conservation aspects of the Faculty of Marine Studies at Villa College.

 Goodbye & thanks for the inspiration, Jeju!