Dr. Keisha Bahr Leads Transformative Coral Research Voyage in Fiji: A Blend of Science, Education and Cultural Exchange
When Dr. Keisha Bahr agreed to serve as the Chief Scientist for a S.E.A. (Sea Education Association) Coral Reef Expedition in Fiji, she knew it was an exciting and unique opportunity. Bahr realized it was much more after a four-week stay in Fiji in July and August of 2024 that included an 18-day sailing voyage studying her passion of corals and coral reefs with the group.
The trip, sponsored by the Woods Hole, Massachusetts-based Sea Education Association, combined academic study with at-sea research, and included more than 20 undergraduate or recently graduated students from multiple colleges and universities in the United States with various degrees. The trip offered an opportunity for Bahr to teach about her life’s work to students considering a future in the marine sciences and a chance to integrate into the Fijian communities to learn about their culture, lives and how they manage the reefs that help them sustain their livelihoods.
“The students came from very diverse academic disciplines, which allowed us to approach our research questions from a truly interdisciplinary perspective while being immersed in Fijian culture. It was truly an impactful experience for everyone involved,” said Bahr, the Chair for Coral Reef and Ocean Health at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Along with Bahr, HRI doctoral student Alexandra Good joined the journey as a Teaching Assistant to gain hands-on experience in leading a field course. Good is highly motivated to lead immersive field courses after completing her degree and is interested in leading the expedition in 2025.
The students in the program spent about two weeks on land learning the basics of corals, coral reef ecology, the methods to study and gathering samples while also learning about the management styles of the people of Fiji. They integrated local traditional knowledge into the program, and included in that was an opportunity for the students to live in a village for two days to learn more about the culture.
The journey was done on a 139-foot sailing vessel (SSV Robert Seamans) and anchored at three different locations — Savusavu Vanua Levu; Dere Bay, Koro (village of Navasovi) and Ono Island, Kadavu. Each time they approached an island or village they had to ask for permission to study the reefs from a community’s leaders, which was aided by a Fijian government observer that was on the trip. In that process they experienced the sevusevu ceremony where they asked permission to access the village’s reefs. “Fijians are known as being the friendliest in the world, so when we visited the villages, we truly felt like we were visiting family and friends. It was a celebration,” Bahr said. “Some villages haven’t had visitors in a very long time.” The group experienced island village life, including being invited back for a feast, a church service and going to a school for a performance. They also answered questions and concerns from the villagers about their reefs, and how they could implement any practices into their daily lives to keep their reefs healthy.
“The biggest thing I took away from that entire experience was the ability to sit down and talk with the community and say, ‘This is why your reefs are declining and this is what you can do about it,” Bahr said. “They took every single thing we said and were like ‘We are going to start doing that tomorrow.’ It’s the most rewarding thing that I have done to date in my career.”
Bahr and her team are working to study and clean up the data and they will give the information to the communities they visited along with the Fijian Government. The data not only included information on corals and coral reefs, but also information on seawater chemistry and other oceanographic information.