Loromel Hocog, a graduate of Kagman High School and current student of Northern Marianas College, has received an internship position in the education outreach branch of DEQ.
He tells Variety of three projects the branch is currently working on.
“The first project is ‘First Friday Films.’ Basically, every first Friday of the month, including tonight, a film is presented at the American Memorial Park’s Visitor Center. The film is open to the public and free of charge and usually covers an environmental issue,” he says.
Tonight’s film is “A Sea Change,” a creation based on ocean acidification. The showing will begin at 6:30 pm.
The second project, Hocog describes, pertains to helping out with the Size Matters Campaign. The main objective of this campaign is to encourage people to catch only fish of a certain size so as to preserve what is left of the already diminishing amount of fish we have around the island.
The third project, “is in its early stages,” Hocog says.
“It’s a butterfly fish monitoring project.”
He explains, “The science behind it is that the butterfly fish are directly related to the conditions of the coral reef because it is the only food source for this particular species.”
“We plan to examine their conditions and observe their behavior. From this we should be able to determine if there is something going on with the coral reefs that we cannot see yet,” Hocog describes.
Since the project is after all still in its early stages, Hocog says they are not exactly sure what their main target will be, “but right now we are thinking it will be more of an attempt to attract folks into what we do at DEQ.”
Hocog’s pitch on the matter is to “target high school graduates in hopes of attracting them to a natural resource management degree.”
Loromel shares some of the outdoor aspects of his job: “Today I was able to go to the ocean to do water sampling. We check the salinity and other conditions of the water.”
“It’s so much fun and really educational. It’s a great and interesting way to spend your summer,” he says.
He concludes, “The job has helped me to realize how much the environment needs us and how much we need the environment.”
Graduate of Mount Carmel High School and also current student of NMC, Hazel Doctor has been given the opportunity to work at DEQ’s surveillance laboratory for the summer.
Under this branch, she monitors marine water around beaches for recreational use.
“For example when people want to barbecue or if tourists want to swim, or divers want to dive, we are the ones who make sure it’s safe,” she explains.
“We pretty much test to see whether or not the water is red flagged. We test the waters around Tinian, Saipan, and Managaha,” says Doctor.
She adds, “Also, we help with the testing for drinking water. There are currently about nine water companies on the island. Every month they have their water quality checked to make sure we consumers won’t get sick.”
Other current projects she is involved with are the investigation of the water around the DPW channel bridge in Lower Base as well as surveying reef flats.
“I love the job,” says an enthusiastic Doctor. “It keeps you more aware of what’s really going on around the island. Most of the time you don’t really think about it but now when you see it, it makes you want to do something about it.”
Hocog and Doctor are two of four young adults who are currently working under the Division of Environmental Quality for the internship. There are 12 interns for the program.
