If anyone would make a perfect pick to pursue a career in sustainable aquaculture, it would be hard to look past Tahnee Chandler.
A Bulli resident who spends her time snorkelling, reading, travelling, bushwalking and researching ways to help the marine environment, Tahnee is a Bidjigal woman with connections to the South Coast community. Her name even means saltwater, or sound of the sea.
She is one of four recipients of Hi Neighbour’s First Power Scholarship and will start a PhD focused on sustainable aquaculture development, with the scholarship’s support, next year.
“My dream job is simply to empower communities and protect the ocean. As a proud Indigenous woman from Bidjigal sea country, I am passionate about impactful community-based research that creates sustainable solutions for both ecosystems and the people who depend on them,” says Tahnee, who has lived in the Illawarra since she was four years old.
“The ocean has always been a huge part of my identity. My ancestors are saltwater people and I have always had cultural obligations to preserve and protect sea country.”
Tahnee wants her PhD studies to centre on local and international communities as she works to address concerns with solutions benefiting both the environment and the community. Last year, she completed her honours thesis, solidifying her interest in conducting community-based research in the field.
“I investigated the use of better management practices in rice-shrimp farming in Vietnam due to ongoing problems with climate change and reduced agricultural yields,” she says.
“I enjoyed working with the farmers to unify research theory and their practical experiences to create a holistic perspective on the issues at hand and potential pathways for developing solutions.”
Hi Neighbour aims to enrich the region’s clean energy transformation by supporting people from under-utilised and knowledge-rich groups to build careers in cultural heritage management, environmental assessment, electrical trades, engineering and project management.
The First Power Scholarship supports First Nations careers in sustainability, offering financial support and career mentoring. Founder Yael Stone says the energy transformation can’t happen without the knowledge and wisdom of traditional custodians.
"I am so proud to be supporting extraordinary First Nations talent in our region to lead the way in the clean energy space,'' Yael said. ''We need extraordinary folks like these awardees to be at the heart of this energy transformation from coal to clean energy. If the transformation is not dynamically inclusive of First Nations people and wisdom at all levels; leadership, management, trades then we will have failed."
Tahnee says she is grateful to Hi Neighbour for the support.
“Hi Neighbour has empowered me to continue with my studies to be the Indigenous scientist I would want to see. In Yael’s words 'you can’t be it if you can’t see it', and I hope to be a role model that younger Indigenous kids would look up to.” she says.
Long term, Tahnee hopes to work in academia or in environmental project management, developing research to benefit the livelihoods of small-scale communities reliant on the ocean’s resources.
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