Name: Mduduzi Nyawo;

School: Mmemezi High School

P.O. Box 107, Mkuze, 3965

What are the main environmental issues faced on our coast and how will being part of the exhibition benefit me and my community.

Introduction

There are many environmental issues faced on our coast and I am going to be the one who is going to solve that problems. And I am going to be the one of the Sodwana Ichthyologists. I have also want us to study about that coelacanth like the people of the other countries.

Because I have already know that this coelacanth is the only surviving member of the ancient super order of lobe-finned fish. This is discovered by the Ichthyologists. And I have also know that it is first appeared in the fossil record in the demonian period 375 million years ago.

Those Ichthyologists also discovered that the earliest coelacanth lived in the shallow fresh water, but during the mesozoil are those and many other fish invaded the sea.

We all know that the fossil have found on every continents except Antartica, none date from the time after the cretaceous period 65 million years ago. For this reason the coelacanth was long presumed extinct, until it was rediscovered in South Africa. This was doing by all the Ichthyologists. And I think they were just want to study many things about coelacanth.

As we already know that the coelacanth was discovered on 22 december 1938. It was discovered by Ms Majorie Courtenay-Latimer the curator of the East London Museum. She was summoned to the harbour by captain Goosen as examine his catch of trawled fish. Ms Courtenay-Latimer took one of the fish as unusual, and transported it back to the laboratory. She was also sent letter to describe the fish.

So on my own I can say we have to get that coelacanth and discovered other things on it. But the problems faced on our coast Is that we don’t have the requirements for swimming in the sea and we all know that the Sodwana Bay is not serve as other seas. That will be a big problems that we can encounter on our research.

We have also get people who is going to play an important part on our research. We have to get tremendous who are interested in fishes and they are going to becomes honorary curator of the fishes for all the museum in the Sodwana bay.

I just want to be one of the researchers because I want to study many things. I get that there are no museum on my coast. So I am going to play an important role in the building of museum in Sodwana Bay, and also I am going to build game reserves to take all the other animals and put them in, so that they will be safe.

By doing that the rate of the visitors is going to rise. I know the many visitors who some to see the coast are going to be interested to come again.

I think that this fish is going to help us in so many ways so we have to make an example on our communities that they must be interested in discovering things. I think that will help my community because we are going to catch that coelacanth and make studies about it so that will help the school of my community.

We are going to have also many visitors who are going to see that coelacanth when job opportunity start to develop, because we have to get police who are going to look after the visitors that how safe are they, and those police are going to look after the cars of visitors. On our research of the coelacanth we can also have to get a person who is going to be ordered for the air forced to transport us to the comores to collect fish is also a job opportunity.

So that we are going to have a few coelacanth in the comores by means of the fisherman. I have also get that in 1997 the dead coelacanth was photograph in the fish market by the wife of America Fish biologist named Marker Erdmann.

As he can do that this people of America, people started to know her by that, I think and also I am going to get more knowledge about the people of my community were also going to respect me and know me.

If I going to take part on that research I think I am going to get knowledge and when I come back I will inform all people of my community about that golden chance of being part of researchers of Sodwana Bay.