Final Reflection
I often feel that it was a fateful coincidence (缘分) that I took BIOL 420. Guylian seashell chocolates were a family favorite; though I’ve always read the Project Seahorse statement with curiosity, I’ve never thought of searching online to learn more at the time, nor did I know where it was located. I applied to UBC oblivious that this course existed, but was thrilled ever since I discovered it on the course registration page.
A New Understanding of Ocean Conservation
Having taken the course, I’d definitely say that it exceeded my expectations. Through this course, I’ve realized how society is often biased to report and address tangible issues. Growing up, I mostly heard about the importance of conserving marine species, protecting their habitats, reducing plastic waste and fossil fuel use. I’ve heard of bycatch, but always thought that it was a problem faced by larger species like dolphins and sea turtles. It shocked me that overfishing is the predominant pressure of the ocean, while pollution was only a secondary factor. I now understand that to address fisheries mismanagement, we must end active wide-scope fishing methods like bottom trawling, terminate harmful (capacity-enhancing) subsidies and seek alternative solutions with fishing communities, to name a few.
Through the numerous case studies presented in the course, I’ve also gained important insight on what makes a conservation project (or any project whatsoever) successful. These include collaboration and engagement with all stakeholders to gain buy-in, quantifiable metrics, long-term evaluation of outcome, and continuous revision of plans. As I heard the diverse array of questions from my peers, I’ve learned to evaluate an issue via many angles, and consider the impact of a decision on multiple parties.
Another realization is that I don’t have to be a marine biologist to contribute to ocean conservation. Throughout high school, I was always disheartened that my parents opposed me from pursuing a research career in marine biology, because marine issues matter to me dearly. During lectures, more than 20 guest lecturers joined us from different disciplines: from NGO leaders and economists to social scientists and lawyers, all of them had significant contributions to ocean conservation. The tour guides and fishermen we met during the field trips also have raised awareness about the past and present of local fishing issues to the community, which also demonstrates a positive impact on conservation. As I have set my gears towards veterinary medicine, I will be more open-minded about how I can combine my interests in conservation with my future career. Also, as I’ve gained a better understanding of the scope of marine issues, I now feel more obligation to make an impact in the field. With each reflection I posted throughout the term, I’ve always felt the urge to add facts and explanations into my narrative and better direct my writing to a general audience: one thing I know for sure is that I will continue to try educating others about science and conservation issues.
Personal Growth
On a personal account, one main takeaway is that “perfect is the enemy of good”. My mom always urged me to be “quick and dirty” at my assignments, but I often experience major struggles in moving forward as I often get caught up in the small details. This was exacerbated by my mindset that since my work will represent me, everything has to be my absolute best. As I prepared my first slide deck, I spent one whole evening trying to change an Antarctic Slidesgo template to incorporate my content, but ended up deciding that the theme wasn’t fit for an academic presentation at all. I made my later presentations either from scratch or using more minimalistic themes, and those proved to be more effective and saved me loads of time. I have learned to put more emphasis on setting up the framework and focusing on the intellectual content.
I truly appreciate the opportunity to create the e-portfolio as a course assignment. Though my artistic attempts were quite preliminary, I felt gratified when I saw my work come together in this collection. I plan to use it to build my personal website going forward. This assignment also created unexpected learning experiences. By choosing to use UBC’s blog website, I had to jump through unforeseen hurdles to make it presentable. Though the theme I chose had a beautiful overall design, the customization options were limited, and many display features were awkward. As I spent countless hours tweaking it, I ended up teaching myself the required CSS, and I now have a beginner’s understanding in the HTML coding of websites despite never taking computer science courses in university.
Through this term, I also grew more accustomed to other popular media. People have described me as a scholar proficient at academic writing; as a tradeoff, I often subconsciously apply that narrative to everything else. I still remember that the feedback I got on first blog post was that it was overly dense, and would benefit from more of a story flow. The same can probably be said for my tweets, as I often tried to be descriptive and struggled to keep the character count down. Though I’m still a beginner tweeter, I now feel much less stress in composing them. The short nature of the presentation assignments also heightened my ability to distill important information and efficiently convey messages to different audiences. Unfortunately I haven’t had the time to flesh out my earliest posts, but I will definitely try to add on my other work and build my website.
With heartfelt sentiment, I close my case on BIOL 420. I wish the best to Amanda, Roshni and all my lovely peers that have accompanied me through this journey.