Oban RNLI’s First Class crew member
An Oban RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew member has been awarded a First Class Honours degree for her research into what happens under the waves – to the delight of her professor and fellow members of the crew.
Jasmin Manning graduated from the Scottish Association for Marine Science on Friday (2 September) with a BSc degree in Marine Science with Oceanography and Robotics.
She said: “I grew up here but only when I was older did I realise how important the sea was to me.
“The decision to study marine science was triggered by diving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and realising that much of it had been destroyed by climate change.
“My dissertation involved using an autonomous underwater vehicle to map the seabed around shipwrecks off the north coast of Ireland to look at how the presence of structures on the seabed affect flow and transport of sediments – adding another piece to the jigsaw of our understanding of the ocean floor.”
SAMS Professor Finlo Cottier – himself a deputy coxswain at Oban RNLI Lifeboat Station– says there has always been a strong link between SAMS and its local lifeboat:
“It’s inevitable really, given the amount of time that SAMS staff and students spend on or in the water, either as part of their work or for recreation, that some of us should choose to volunteer with the RNLI.
“SAMS has supported staff and students to be members of the lifeboat crew for more than 20 years. Jasmin is the third volunteer and SAMs student to graduate.
“She has done exceptionally well over the last couple of years to balance the commitment to crew training, call outs and also her degree studies.”
Oban RNLI Coxswain, Ally Cerexhe says the Oban crew is delighted with her achievement:
“The whole lifeboat crew, both seagoing and land-based, is a big family. Jasmin helps show the diverse mix of jobs, skills and backgrounds of that family’s members. We’re all really proud of what Jasmin has accomplished.”
Jasmin is now taking forward her commitment to ocean conservation with a job at SAMS Enterprise, the environmental consultancy Business at SAMS.
ENDS
Picture credit: Stephen Lawson/RNLI
Oban Lifeboat volunteers this year celebrated fifty years of saving lives at sea.
Oban is a busy station serving one of the largest stretches of coastline in the UK, flanked by RNLI colleagues based at Tobermory, Islay and Campbeltown.
The Oban volunteer crew operate the Trent Class All Weather lifeboat Mora Edith MacDonald from our base at the South Pier on Gallanach Road, close to the CalMac ferry terminal.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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