Antony Vavia (left) is the first Pacific Islander to graduate with a PhD in marine biology from Auckland University of Technology. Photo: Supplied
The first Pacific islander to graduate with a doctoral degree in marine biology from Auckland University of Technology (AUT) says he wants to take everything he has learnt back to his "happy place…surrounded by water" and share with his people in Cook Islands.
Dr Antony Vavia, 28, graduated in Auckland on 1 August, and becoming only the second Cook Island Māori with a PhD in this field - the other being Dr Teina Rongo, the chairperson of Kōrero o te 'Ōrau' and a well-known community leader.
Vavia's research focuses on subsistence fisheries in the Pacific with a case study of his island home of Mitiaro, the fourth largest island in the Cook Islands group.
He spent almost two years carrying out his investigation in Mitiaro during the Covid pandemic, which had posed some challenges with movement restrictions, including having to carefully fix and preserve his samples before getting them to New Zealand for lab experiments.
He told RNZ Pacific completing his PhD was "a big day for my family and myself".
Antony Vavia (left) is the first Pacific Islander to graduate with a PhD in marine biology from Auckland University of Technology. Photo: Supplied
"I have got a lot of gratitude to learn not only from a scientific lens but from the Mitiaro people, from the papas (fathers), mamas (mothers), mapu (youth), rakavai (fishermen)," he said.
Dr Vavia wanted to look at Pacific Island fisheries because he believes with the way the world is becoming challenged - with threats of climate change, overfishing, natural resource exploitation - there is a negative impact on food security, environmental, and health.
But a lot of the focus is on the developed world.
"We have got millions of people throughout these coastal communities all across the Pacific, [and] across the globe, that rely on these fisheries as an important food source, not only for physical sustenance, but as well as cultural sustenance too."
He said the Cook Islands is surrounded by the ocean and it was "only natural for us to want to take care of that resource".
"I have had the pleasure of being inspired by people like Dr Rongo. I know that he's got a lot of love for the ocean and our community. So do I.
"So [becoming] the second [marine biologist] as a 28-year-old, it's pretty wicked."
Antony Vavia (left) is the first Pacific Islander to graduate with a PhD in marine biology from Auckland University of Technology. Photo: Supplied
He says his only goal now is to take the learning and give back.
"I want to take it home. I want to take everything that I've learnt and what I'm about to learn back home.
"That place is my happy place, on the water, surrounded by water on the vaka," he added.