Jakarta-born Catherine Jacobs used to sell phone credit in Manado to pay for her university education. Now her hard work is paying off.
She works as a full time marine biologist in North Sulawesi and has recently come to attention in the science community for her most recent expedition.
For the first time in Catherine’s entire life, she left Indonesia. She made the long journey to Norway to have a look at the maritime ecological system in the Scandinavian country and compare it to that of Indonesia.
The water in Norway is obviously very different from the tropical temperatures of Indonesia, so Catherine had to undergo special training, including wearing a dry suit which she has never had the need for in her home country.
After her training Catherine dived head on, literally speaking, into the icy waters of Norway.
Her most notable discoveries was that Norway and Indonesia share a lot of the same sea creatures, the only difference being that the creatures in Norway are much bigger than their Indonesian counter-parts of the same species.
“I think the presence of these common species in both cold and tropical waters must be linked to the availability of food. These creatures feed on hydroids which I realised are also common in both areas” Catherine tells The Jakarta Post.
Catherine describes the discoveries of the Norwegian species as “almost like encountering an alien underwater”.
She is grateful for her time in Gulen, Norway and encourages the Norwegian divers to come to Lembeh in Indonesia and take a look at the similar, yet very different waters.
