About me
Picture by: G. Leurs
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Born and raised in Brazil, up in the mountains in a city yet at least 300km away from the sea, I became fascinated by the marine life. Since I was a kid I have always been attracted to water, I just could not resist entering the water. I lived in The Netherlands for 15 years, a country below sea level and surrounded by water in many ways. Through many life experiences I became highly passionate about marine life. My name is Ayumi Kuramae Izioka, I work as the Saba Bank National Park Officer and Science Coordinator on Saba, Dutch Caribbean.
I graduated as a BSc in Coastal and Marine Management, with expertise in tropical marine biology and ecology. My passion was triggered during my first scuba dive experience at the Great Barrier Reef. That is when I realised the importance of a sustainable cooperation between men and the ocean. It was a turning point for me, and a motivation to become a specialist in this field for the rest of my life. Time has brought me to many places, mainly the Caribbean in which I specialised and got the chance to work on great projects. I worked together with many great governmental and non-governmental organisations, multi-cultural students and I explored a wide range of countries (25% of the world!) by the age of 25. I volunteered in many projects and have a worldwide network of great scientists. Currently, I run my own project on lionfish and in the meantime I am working on new publications from the Caribbean. Besides, together with my partner we run Oceaware where I focus on the public relations. In the upcoming year of 2018 I expect to be exploring even more of the marine life and who knows I might specialise in a certain field that I would never have thought about it before. So keep yourself updated with my blog and follow how I explore the rest of the world through marine biology! |
