Prof Sato explaining his study to the audience during the seminar.
KUCHING: About 500 students from 10 learning institutions in Kuching were presented with a rare opportunity to attend a seminar by Prof Sato Katsufumi from Tokyo University.
Prof Sato is with the university’s Department of Marine Bio-science, Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute.
The seminar aimed at promoting ecology conservation efforts highlighted the immediate need for such undertakings.
“Our behaviour of over relying on plastic bags and related waste, has cost the lives of many sea creatures, including sea turtles as they would mistaken drifting plastic bags as jelly fish, one of the favourite food for some turtle species,” said a press release from the seminar’s organisers. Titled “Bio-logging Reveals Underwater Behaviors of Sea turtles”, the two-hour long seminar saw some of the very interesting research works done by Prof Sato since 1996, conducted in one of the most remote islands in the world in the Antartic region.
More importantly, students were able to witness the behaviours of sea turtles in footage recorded with camera mounted on different species of sea turtles.
The seminar was an inaugural event to be conducted by the newly formed ecology conservation organisation called Ecology Conservation Office (ECO).
With the cooperation of local authorities, the group of scientists led by Prof Sato visited various sea turtle nesting sites and exchanged ideas with the local authorities on ways to better improve marine and ecology conservation efforts.