Hi, I’m Fanny, 22 and currently living in Amsterdam. I’ve done my Bachelor in Biology at the Universiteit van Amsterdam (and partly at Wageningen University). My next step is a Master’s degree in aquaculture at Wageningen.
My love for nature, especially the submerged kind, grew not only through my studies and watching nature documentaries, but also one of my hobbies: diving. CoralGardening and I actually came in contact through that hobby. Coral reefs are some of my favourite things to see during a dive. And of course all the life that can be found on and around it. I wanted to get more involved in reefs in my gap year, so I looked out for organizations that work on restoring corals and reefs.
Vera and Frank advised me to follow a course on marine conservation on Koh Tao. It involved recognizing corals, their diseases and predators, how to reproduce and grow corals etc. It is too much to describe everything in detail. I learned a great deal and got even more excited about corals! That’s why I keep supporting CoralGardening from The Netherlands by organizing our recent crowdfund campaign and maintaining our social media accounts.
I tried to focus as much as I could on marine biology during my studies. In high school I did a small project on the intelligence of dolphins and their use by humans, for example in therapies. My Bachelor’s degree culminated in a study on foraging behaviour by a small shell (Macoma balthica) which is found all over the Dutch coast lines. Additonally I’ve made it a habit to support the annual field work by NIOZ, which includes sampling many different organisms from the Wadden Sea. This annual work has helped us towards a much better understanding of the benthic fauna of these important breeding grounds for many European species.
I dream of starting a new company in aquaculture in the future. It will focus on implementing innovative and sustainable methods in the culture of marine organisms. But until that moment comes, I’ll keep helping CoralGardening save and restore corals!