Kirsty Magson who we known as a Whaleshark mom – People Of New Heaven

16 December 2024 admin

Eco Friendly, Marine conservation, People Of New Heaven, Scuba diving

Kirsty Magson is our beloved marine biologist of the New Heaven Family, also known as Turtle Mama, Whale shark Mama, Mother of the Ocean.

With her knowledge of marine conservation and marine biology, she has been working for the world and for Koh Tao for more than 7 years., making her the big sister of the New Heaven Family. The New Heaven Reef Conservation Program is run by Kirsty, the program director, the lecturer, the dive leader, thesis consultant, marine scientist, and also a researcher, where she can do all these things by herself or with only one assistant. Moreover, Kirsty is a divemaster, bringing students underwater to learn the hands-on stuff to follow the lectures. Program’s activities involve collecting underwater data with the Ecological Monitoring Program or EMP, fish population surveys and various creatures surveys, checking on coral diseases, along with handling the coral predator outbreaks. Kirsty and her students’ dives are always extraordinary since everyone must complete Scuba Diving Advanced certification with perfect buoyancy, and consuming a lot less air than fun divers. Due to tasks and collecting data underwater each dive, they usually stay underwater for an hour or two. Kirsty fell in love with the island and it’s been 7 years now. For us, Kirsty is considered as one of Koh Tao people already and the home for her heart is the ocean.

– Tell us about yourself –

Hi, my name is Kirsty, I am a marine biologist originally from the North East of England. You can find me leading New Heaven Reef Conservation, working on my whale shark ID program and other projects or being closely followed by my dog Pocky.

I love anything and everything shark related, I started a whale shark Identification program for Whale Sharks in Thailand and I also work with some amazing DMCR vets to deal with sick or stranded sea turtles.

But most of my time is spent teaching my students about Marine Conservation and what they can do to preserve and protect the Marine Environment.

– How is your life in Koh Tao? –

My life in Koh Tao started 7 years ago when I first came to join the conservation internship program for 3 months. This quickly became 6 months, now it’s been 7 years and I don’t regret any of it. This island has a way of drawing you in and it is very hard to leave. That coupled with adopting a dog, the warm climate and the amazing views and its safe to say I love the life I have built here.

– What do you love most about New Heaven? –

I love the family vibes, they quickly become your Koh Tao family and that no matter what your doing whether its conservation, dive courses, fun diving, free diving or yoga, they bring you into the fold and make you a part of the family even if you’re only here a day or two.

– Tell us about your memorable moments at work –

There have been a few but ones that really stand out for me are any dives with a whale shark, working to head start, rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles and saving a baby blacktip reef shark from a fishing line. What I love the most though is that with each new student group there are always exciting and memorable moments and I’m so lucky I get to experience this and share these moments with my students.

– Say something about the ocean to all the people out there –

We only have one planet and saving it starts with saving our ocean. To quote the poet W.H.Auden “ Thousands have lived without love, not one without water”. Each one of us needs only to make one small change to have a big impact so no matter how small you think an action is, it is still important to preserve our oceans.

– For your future New Heaven Reef Conservation Program students –

Come and join a group of like minded individuals that want to share their passion and knowledge of the ocean with you. We will teach you everything you want to know about the ocean and why it is important and take you diving into the water surrounding Koh Tao. We will take you to explore our favorite dive sites, introduce you to some of the best critters and keep you entertained with our adventures along the way. So contact us now to find out more about joining us.

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