Tenerife Marine Conservation Internship

I was an intern with GVI for 8 weeks on the Tenerife base in the Canary Islands. Overall, I had an incredible experience and I would recommend this program if you are interested in marine life and not a diver. I was supported by a wonderful and welcoming staff member during my time. The boat rides were a real highlight and I learnt really useful skills regarding data collection and input and also fin ID. It was great going out on the boats and recognising certain individuals from the nicks and scars on their fins! The marine biological researcher GVI partner with in Tenerife is incredible, she is full of so much knowledge and is a key element of the program. I am very grateful to have learnt from her and experienced such incredible marine biodiversity.

The base is still very new so I experienced a few teething problems and things could be improved but I am sure this will get better with time and improvements can be made. For example, I do feel like the actual project work could be bulked out more. Gaining more local partners associated with the work such as beach cleans, and expanding in terms of education and awareness would make it feel like volunteers and interns are having more impact and increase the work done on the project. There is also only a tiny difference between a volunteer and an intern - an intern does a few quizzes and presentations but everything else is the same. This is something to be looked into further as even I struggled with thinking of ways to differentiate the intern and volunteer workload/type!

I am really glad I chose this project and to intern with GVI. I have great memories and overall absolutely loved my experience! When the base gets more established, which will come with time, I think it will be a fab hub and a great place to learn and experience marine life and get involved with conservation!