Have you ever wanted to invite a scientist into your living room and hear about all their exciting discoveries? Ocean Geographic has been hosting live video sessions with experts around the globe and last week we tuned in to hear stories and discoveries with Dr. Mark Erdmann.
Mark and Ocean Geographic host Michael Aw first went diving together in the ’90s, on an expedition to North Sulawesi, and both have a long history of scuba diving in the region. Their extensive history together lends itself to a fluid entertaining video format, where they share stories about scuba diving, new discoveries, and conservation.
Dr. Mark Erdmann is the VP of Asia Pacific marine programs for Conservation Internations, and his work largely focuses on the management of marine protected areas. Dr. Erdmann was instrumental in setting up the North Sulawesi sport diving associating, and bringing management to the Bunaken Marine Park.
Dr. Erdmann has described 162 new species of fish, mantis shrimp, corals, and published 205 scientific articles and 5 books! Dr. Erdmann has visited some of the most remote reefs in Indonesia, such as Raja Ampat, Cenderawasih Bay, and Triton Bay, documenting marine biodiversity.
And if all of this wasn’t enough to get you excited, Dr. Erdmann also shares his experience from 1997 when he first spotted the Sulawesi Coelacanth. Tune in for this session to get an insight into his discoveries and perspective of our reefs and ocean in 2050.
We reached out to Alex Rose from Ocean Geographic to learn more about their webinar series, and upcoming guests.
“We all miss being in the ocean and interacting with our dive industry colleagues, so decided that while we’re all stuck indoors, webinars would be a great way to stay connected with both our friends and the sea. Beautiful images, exciting stories, and fascinating information all remind us what we have to look forward to in the hopefully near future.”
“Ocean Geographic has some more great content coming up soon including our very own Shark Week featuring talks from Cristina Zenato and Paul de Gelder, as well as a chat about polar exploration with Goran Elhme and one on the Philippines with Lynn Funkhouser.”
