COM-FSM Marine Science students board the Umitaka Maru
PALIKIR, Pohnpei (February 25, 2013) – Marine Science students from the College of Micronesia-FSM visited and boarded the Umitaka Maru, the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology research vessel on February 21st.
According to COM-FSM Professor Allan Bourgoin, at least 25 COM-FSM students affiliated with the college’s Marine Science Program especially fisheries biology and oceanography boarded the Umitaka Maru for a 90-minute tour of the vessel. The college students were shown a short video production highlighting the vessel’s previous journeys. Before its arrival at the Pohnpei port on February 18th, the Umitaka Maru made previous stops at New Caledonia, Australia and Vietnam.
After the video presentation, the COM-FSM students were accompanied by the Tokyo University students onboard the ship and toured the vessel including the engine control room, the different living quarters, kitchen and dining areas, the laundry area, and the wet and dry research laboratories. The COM-FSM students were offered drinks of ice tea after the tour.
The Umitaka Maru travels to all oceans of the world providing students of Advanced Marine Technician Education course training opportunities in investigation and research. The vessel also provides Marine Science Education students with opportunities for marine technician licensure by conducting onboard fisheries training.
Students learn navigation and fishing skills onboard the Umitaka Maru as well as the skills for manipulating catches and preserving them to maintain maximum freshness. The highlight of Tokyo University students’ scientific tour was their expedition to Antarctica where they utilized everything they learned in the freezing Antarctic temperatures.
A day prior to the tour of the vessel by COM-FSM students, the Tokyo University students visited the college’s National Campus.
The Umitaka Maru left Pohnpei on February 23rd and is scheduled to arrive Tokyo on March 4th. The vessel is expected to return to Pohnpei on February next year.
The College of Micronesia-FSM and the Tokyo University currently hold a memorandum of agreement designed to deepen the friendship and expand mutual understanding between the institutions through academic and educational cooperation. The two schools have agreed to collaborate among faculty and staff members for research, symposia, and other academic pursuits as feasible and mutually agreed. It allows for exchange visits by students as mutually agreed and jointly arranged, joint research projects, and exchange of information materials on education, training and research.
