World Oceans Day 2021 – Together for a Sustainable Future
United Nations World Oceans Day, is celebrated every year on the 8th June and this day serves as a reminder of the major role oceans have in our everyday lives. The oceans cover over 70% of the planet and is thus an essential source of life, supports and sustains humanity. The ocean also produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen supply and supports most of the earth’s biodiversity and a source of protein for billions of people around the globe. A further key component of the ocean is that it supports a global economy with an estimated 40 million people who rely on this ocean-based industry.
The theme for this year’s United Nations World Oceans Day is “Life and Livelihood”. This theme is also in line with the declaration of intentions that launched a decade of challenges to reach the Sustainable Development Goal 14, “Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources”, by 2030. This highlights the need to conserve our marine resources for future generations. The main aim of this day is too educate and inform the public of the impact human activities (anthropogenic influence) have on the ocean and to develop a worldwide network of united citizens working together for a sustainable future.
“Life and Livelihood” is a particularly relevant theme this year, in the lead-up to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021 – 2030). The hope is that this Decade will strengthen international cooperation in developing innovative technologies and promote scientific research which links ocean science with the 
needs of society. The South African ocean science community has played a key role in continuous scientific research within the Southern Ocean and Coastal regions of South Africa. This research is conducted at the South African Sub-Antarctic bases namely, Marion Island and Gough Island and during research expeditions aboard the S.A. Agulhas II in the Antarctic region by various institutions. SANAP principal investigators, researchers and students took part in the All Atlantic 2021 Conference (2nd – 4th June 2021) and presented on the need for sustainable development and capacity building for future generations, through innovative programs and a network of Floating Universities such as SEAmester South Africas Class Afloat. Thus highlighting the need to “Connect, Act and Cooperate” within a global network to achieve sustainably with ocean based resources, preserved marine environment and pave the way for future generations.
Members of the Southern Ocean community set up a Task Force to develop the Southern Ocean Action Plan. This Action Plan will provide a framework for Southern Ocean stakeholders to formulate and develop concrete activities that support the Decade vision. To ensure this Action Plan represents the diverse perspectives and priorities of a wide range of Southern Ocean stakeholders, the Southern Ocean Task Force is now inviting all interested stakeholders to get involved in the process.
Whether you are an early career professional or have an extensive background in polar activities, or you represent an institute, programme or initiative, your insights into how Southern Ocean science should evolve over the coming years to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals will provide valuable information to develop an inclusive Action Plan. If you wish to help us identify Southern Ocean priorities, we kindly ask that you read our report and complete our survey no later than 23:59 UTC on 18 June 2021. – The SOdecade Team
(Images : ALSA archive)
The 78th Marion Island overwintering team has gone through some ups and downs. After two weeks of isolation and multiple Covid-19 tests, the team left Cape Town on 9 April at 19:34 onboard the SA Agulhas II with Captain Gavin Syndercombe. The team arrived at Marion Island on 13 April 2021. The Marion 78 team leader is Bubele Nongwejana (see below). He is also the Medical Orderly, taking over from Winnie Moodaley – current team leader and Medical Orderly of Marion 77.
Since then a documentary has been made for the 
Watch the documentary on History Channel.
This year the vessel entered notable ice cover at 67° 50′ S. It was mostly easy going with some ramming during the early hours of 4 January. The later departure of the SA Agulhas II has resulted in ice navigation later in the summer. The ice is more depleted by now and navigation has been more straight forward.
The ship enters notable sea ice on the morning of 3 January. Here the ice floes are about 10 m in diameter and concentrated at about 80% with some snow cover and only a few centimeters of ice thickness. (In our science we also visually observe the ice and our ‘data’ may vary due to subjective opinion – Do you agree?).
BIOGRIP comprises four research ‘nodes’ based at the Universities of Cape Town (focusing on isotope biogeochemistry), Stellenbosch (water and soil biogeochemistry), Free State (mineral biogeochemistry) and North-West University (atmospheric biogeochemistry), with the administrative ‘hub’ located at UCT. The 
“Biogeochemistry” is the study of how biological, geological, chemical, and physical processes interact to shape natural environments over time and space. It covers a range of interdisciplinary research foci, from the origin and diversification of life, to how anthropogenic drivers alter modern environments, to the response of natural systems to environmental change. Biogeochemistry was identified by the 2016 South African Research Infrastructure Roadmap (SARIR) document as an emerging interdisciplinary field of strategic importance. SARIR recommends that the central objective of biogeochemical research in South Africa should be to gain “further insight into the interactions of human activity and the environment over the past several hundred millennia and to determine how the environmental impact of anthropogenic activity has contributed to the change in Earth system dynamics (chemical, physical and biological). This includes the search for an understanding of the behavior of well characterized and emerging pollutants and their current impact on the environment”. There are a number of strong research groups in South Africa already investigating various aspects of this broad research objective, but their efforts to-date have been isolated and/or fragmented. Moreover, biogeochemistry requires high precision data and measurements of a vast range of inorganic and organic chemical components, including isotope ratios and trace elements, some of which cannot currently be made in South Africa and many of which cannot be run at the volume and quality required. The investment in BIOGRIP will provide the platform to drive biogeochemical knowledge creation through investment in (1) technical capacity, training and scientific leadership in biogeochemical research, (2) world-class analytical facilities, and (3) improved monitoring of biogeochemical environmental variables through the generation and compilation of statistically meaningful datasets.
BIOGRIP will provide significant opportunities to advance South Africa’s research infrastructure and technical capacity in the field of biogeochemistry, while also facilitating a high level of scientific impact on a range of temporal and spatial scales. BIOGRIP will extend the practical research questions that address specific South African problems to include those that are purely curiosity-driven, creative, and/or risky, while also deepening the extent to which ongoing research themes can be probed. An additional impact of developing analytical capacity in-country is the potential for creative methods development, particularly South African-specific applications (e.g., for research questions relevant to the Cape floristic kingdom, hominin evolution, water availability and quality, Antarctic ecosystems, etc.). This will allow the South African research community to push the frontiers of knowledge in a variety of fields where biogeochemical techniques have yet to be applied (or have yet to be applied at the resolution offered by BIOGRIP).
Heather Forrer completed her undergraduate BSc degree at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2015, majoring in Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Marine Biology. She then went on to complete her Honours degree at UCT in 2016 under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Fawcett where she focused on the nitrogen and oxygen isotopes of nitrate in the summertime Southern Ocean. Her aim was to evaluate the patterns of summertime nutrient utilization across the Atlantic Sector of the Antarctic Zone. Loving everything about Southern Ocean biogeochemical oceanography, 
Heather went on to complete a MSc with Dr. Sarah Fawcett and Dr. Angela Knapp (co-advisor, Florida State University (FSU), USA) in 2017 – 2020. Her MSc research focused on a basin-scale approach identifying the drivers of the Indian Sub-Antarctic biological carbon pump, with a special interest in phytoplankton group-specific contributions and the influence of the Island Mass Effect (IME). Heather is now pursuing her PhD at FSU and is taking a deeper look at how the IME enhances carbon export. Her research focuses on the Sub-Antarctic Indian sector as well as Subtropical Pacific, mapping the spatial and temporal carbon export ‘footprint’ of islands across oceans and nutrient regimes.
Born into a family of avid divers, sailors and fisherman, my love for the ocean was instilled in me at a young age. Our dinner table conversations often involve my parents recounting their sailing years on their home-built yacht, reminiscing over past family diving holidays and deciding on which ocean adventure we should embark on next. The vast majority of my childhood holidays were spent wading around rockpools along the South Coast armed with a yellow bucket and red fishing net. My sister and I would collect all the dogfish we managed to coax into our nets and then redistribute them to new rockpool homes based on the size of the fish. Thank goodness the rising tides eventually drove us away and hopefully restored the ecological unrest we most likely caused. This fascination with the small South Coast rockpool ecosystems eventually grew to larger Southeast Asian coral reef biomes in my teenage years. My family immigrated to Vietnam when I was 14, and although moving to a different country was a big culture shock, it opened up a whole new region of marine exploration. Within a couple of months of moving there I became a certified diver and knew that the view from my fogged-up, leaking mask on my first dive had just cemented my future in marine sciences. Upon matriculation, I volunteered for an NGO in southwest Madagascar where I assisted with coral reef studies, looking at both anthropogenic impacts as well as recovery rates from cyclone damage. Knowing that marine sciences was my future, I started my BSc at UCT with a balmy tropical island goal. Well…that was until I met 
I love my career in science because of the people and the places. There is such a diverse group of people within the SANAP community and we are all striving towards a common goal – to better understand how the world works. All of our fields are so interconnected and through collaborative efforts, you have the opportunity to work with the most incredible scientists, where you get to share ideas and develop some form of understanding…only to have even more questions! Exploring curiosities and having the freedom of imagination is what drives science forward and when I find fellow scientists who share similar questions, this encourages me to continue pushing boundaries of what we know. My career in science has also taken me to the most amazing places – places I could never dream of going to with another career. From boarding a Russian research vessel in Chile, to sampling the nearshore coastline of the sub-Antarctic island of Kerguelen, to analyzing samples in a lab in the US, to data interpretation at a workshop in the UK to presenting my findings to at a conference in Switzerland… I don’t think there is another career path that would allow me to do all that! Earth Science is a constantly engaging and exciting field to be in. Things never stop… even during a pandemic. The amount of incredible discoveries and papers that have been published in 2020 alone is testament to this. The SANAP community is an impressive force, driving cutting-edge science that is crucial to our global understanding of the past, present and future Earth and is a community I am privileged to be a part of.
Unlike other career paths, science allows you to follow your passions and ‘immerse’ yourself in different fields. This has allowed me to pursue my interest in Southern Ocean biogeochemical research while being involved in the operational side of Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) and Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) sensor deployments and servicing along the South African coastline with the UCT Research Dive Unit. I am happiest when in or on the ocean and to be able to take part in both the research and the operational sides leaves me smiling from ear to ear.
Something that I find incredibly special about a career in science is it is a career your family can be involved in and get excited about. My family have been an amazing source of support throughout my scientific career. They have helped me label over 15,000 sample bottles (the Forrer family bottle labelling production line is something to behold!), load ships, move -80 freezers from East Pier to UCT and create figures for my theses. They have also met me in Switzerland and Australia after workshops or cruises and have read all of my work from beginning to end. Whenever I phone my dad, he always asks “is the ship in town?” and if the answer is “yes” he follows up with “how many bottles do we have to label, when are we loading the ship, how many trailers do we have to tow?” Although I’m still not 100% convinced my parents know exactly what I do, and often hear my mom describing my work to her friends as “the study of whale food that is saving the planet from climate change”, I definitely couldn’t have made it this far without their support, encouragement and enthusiasm.
To end, I thought I should share three tips for anyone about to embark on their scientific career:
With that, I would like to acknowledge and thank my 
