Research Internship Testimonial | Jasmin Dave | University of Leicester

After speaking to my University about marine internship opportunities, I learnt about the research internships at the University of Gibraltar. After looking at the UniGib website, I immediately knew the internship would be a perfect opportunity to experience marine research in the field in a new location with a unique marine environment. Linking the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Africa and Europe, I knew Gibraltar would be a great location to learn and gain skills that I would not be able to gain elsewhere.

I conducted two areas of research for my internship. The first was deploying BRUVs (Baited Remote Underwater Videos) to compare fish abundance between Rosia Bay and the marine conservation zone. I learnt how to use the software BIIGLE to annotate fish species to compare diversity between the two locations.

I also participated in marina invasive species assessment surveys. This included quantifying the levels of fouling on the boats using a ranking system, and quantifying the colonies of invasive species along the pontoons of the marina. The species quantified were Amathia verticillata, Clavelina lepadiformis and Aplidium proliferum. I then analysed this by making boxplots to compare levels of fouling on the boats between pontoons, and creating summary tables for the presence/absence of invasive species.

Using the video annotation software BIIGLE is a skill I believe that I will continue to use for my degree for species identification. I will also take away valuable fieldwork skills such as using ranking systems to quantify levels of fouling on boats and being able to identify and measure colonies of invasive species. Learning the challenges that our marine environment faces due to anthropogenic causes is something I will carry into the rest of my degree to pursue my passion into marine conservation.

Whether pursuing my passion into coral reef conservation or shark conservation, I know I want to stay in the marine sciences field regardless. I believe the UniGib internship has given me an outlook into the many areas of marine research, and I would like to work towards a PhD in marine sciences to contribute to marine research.