The First  Indian  Female Marine  Scientist with  Diving Licence:  Dr. Anita G. Mary, M.Sc, Ph.D, :

The First   Female Marine Scientist with international diving licence in India: : The adorable  and adventurous Dr. Anita  G. Mary,   M.Sc, M.Phil,  Ph.D,  is  a  resident of Nagercoil , Kanyakumari District, and she  is altogether a different personalty with a different mettle and mental make-up. She is unique and a landmark achiever in her field. The world will shortly recognize her achievements .This great Sea Bird ,  a born Lover of Sea and Sea Diver , will definitely create a  new record in diving deep into the sea and reach great heights in life. Her achievements will speak for her. She is the first Indian  Female Marine Scientist with the International Diving Licence.

As  an approved Marine Biologist and Taxonomist, her bound duty is to find out new and unknown corals and sponges inside the deep sea and to classify and  name them..In this  field  of research and discovery she has already crossed many milestones.

Her parents and family. Dr. Anita was born in Kerala State and her family shifted to Nagercoil  when she was  an infant  and since then  her family and she  have been living at Nagercoil.  Dr. Anita G Mary's parents  , Mr. George  and   Mrs.  George  gave complete freedom to their daughter Anita to chose her subject and course of education .Even though she was a brilliant student with State Rank marks , instead of  selecting  the routine Medical and Engineering studies she chose a different ,unique and thrilling course of education and training and exposed herself to the world  that she is  different  from other girl children.

Dr. Anita's Education:

She did her Primary School Education in the Morton Primary School, Nagercoil and continued her High School studies  and Plus Two in the famous Duthie  Higher Secondary School, Nagercoil and she secured State Ranks both in her SSLC and Plus Two examinations.  Her  enviable educational achievements are

stated below:

Ph.D in Marine Biotechnology [2005]  : ,By doing research on the marine sponges of the Southeast and Southwest coasts of India , she passed her Ph. D ,degree with distinction  from the Manonmaniam Sunderanar  Unversity [MS] Tirunelvelli , in 2005 .M.Phil in Coastal Aquaculture [1999]:  She did her M.Phil Course on Taxonomy, biodiversity and biometry of marine sponges with drug  potential  of  the Southeast Tamil Nadu Coast , in the MS Universityand passed her M.Phil   degree ,with   First Rank  in the University, with Gold Medal and a Citation .M.Sc in Marine Biotechnology [1998].  Dr Anita did her M.Sc course in the MS University and got University First Rank with Gold Medal and a citation [1998].Post Graduate Diploma in Coastal Aquaculture[1996] : She did her PG course in Coastal Aqua Culture in MS University . Her thesis was on Finfish and Shellfish  culture in South India.B.Sc in Zoology [1995]  She did her  B. Sc in Zoology in the MS University [Pioneer Kumarasamy College Nagercoil ]and passed  the Examination ,with  First Rank in the University. 

Awards ; As a fearless and peerless  pioneer women Scientist in her field of research , the research and intellectual world came forward to recognize her with honors and awards.  Dr Anita  got the famous NSF Travel Award to present a Research Paper on the" Octocorals of  India " at the 7th International Conference[June 2003-July 2003] on Coelenterate Biolology, University of Kanvas, Lawrence, USA.

The Indian Jaycees and the World Wide Federation of Young Leaders &Entrepreneurs , honored her by conferring the "Young Achiever in Science Award, 2005..She was a prestigious recipient of the M.Sc Student Project  Award  INR 5000 [July1997-May 1998] from the Tamil Nadu State Council for  Science and  Technology.She received the Junior  Research Fellowship[1998-2001] from the Department of Biotechnology ,New Delhi .

Posts she decorated ::
    At present she works as  INDIA PROGRAM MANAGER , in one the famous UK  organization called, ' GLOBAL VISION INTERNATIONAL , UK  ,from March  2013   till date. .

Environmentalist /General Manger Business Development [ MEMIOS  INDIA  New Delhi]: Dr Anita worked as an Environmentalist and General Manager Business Development  in MEMIOS  INDIA , New Delhi, from April 2012 till march 2013. In her capacity she was in charge of  Environmental Impact assessment , Site Surveys , addressing conservation and environmental issues with special importance to Municipal Solid Waste etc and also  to attend the Business development meetings with the concerned Officials both in India and abroad.

Some high lights of her professional career asMarine Scientist   :Dr Anita  had the privilege of working as  Marine Scientist in the famous , HMR Environmental Engineering  Consultants , Sultanate of Oman.from November 2008 to February 2012.  As a Marine Scientist , Dr Anita was expected to make the marine survey  and environmental impact assessment, using  SCUBA  along the  Sea of Oman and Arabian  Sea. She has also to do the work of identification of marine fauna and flora and addressing conservation and environmental issues of coastal ecosystem, data collection, analysis ,assessment project proposals for fund raising, administration and submission of reports to the  Ministry and Clients  etc.Dr. Anita workded as  Marine  Scientist , in the  Institute  for  Environmental  Research & Social Education [IERC- Tamil Nadu] &Centre for Applied  Science [CAS - Kerala State] India,  from Jan 2001 to April 2007. This Institute was funded by National Geographic Society, PADI  Aware Asia  -Pacific , MRDS USA, WWF- India , CMFRI.She also had the privilege to work a  Project Officer in the prestigious , World Wide Fund for Nature [WWF-India, funded by  MoEF, New Delhi].  from Oct 2004 to June 2005.Dr. Anita had also worked as Consultant in the famous NGO, German Agro Action [ Germany- Chennai] & KRRC [NGO- Tamil Nadu ] , India.

Dr. Anita in the teaching field:   As a multifaceted personality Dr. Anita had experiences in various fields including Education. She  worked as Teacher of  Fisheries , Marine Biology, Oceanography ,in the Ministry of Education , Maldives.Dr. Anita had the privilege to work as Lecturer in , Udaya Engineering College, Anna University, Tamil Nadu, India. and taught Biology, Bioorganic Chemistry, Environmental Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Genomics and Protenomics ,from March 2004 to April 2005.She also worked as a  Guest Lecturer in St. Joseph's Engineering College , Sikkim Manipal University, Thiruvalla , Kerala , India and taught General Biology, Drug Designing , Plant Genomics and Database Processing  and administered the B.Tech students,  from January  2002 to  January  2003.Dr. Anita had the opportunity   to  work as a Part- time Lecturer to teach Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Coastal Aquaculture for M.Sc, and M. Phil scholars, in the famous Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tamil Nadu , India. , from Oct 2000 to December 2002.Dr. Anita also worked  in  the  Academic College , University of  Kerala , India as Resource Person , for the Yearly Refresher courses in Life Sciences.

Dr. Anita's Participation and Paper Presentations in International Conferences:  Dr Anita has participated in many important  International workshops and conference and has presented Research papers of very high order .To cite a few She has  presented a paper and chaired  a Session at the "World Conference on Marine biodiversity " held at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland , UK,  from September26- to30  September 2011.She has participated in the International Workshop on the Taxonomy and Biology of Octocorals, Phuket Marine Biological Center, Phuket, Thailand, held from October 1 to 5th 2007.Dr. Anita has the honor of presenting a Poster on "Status of Octocoral and sponge densities along the west coast,of India with special reference to post -Tsunami survey" at the 25th Anniversry conference on Tropical Aquatic Research towards Sustainable Development , NARA, Colombo.She has the honor of presenting  a Paper on the Biodiversity and distribution of Octocorals of Minicoy, Lakshadweep islands'  at the First Asia Pacific Coral  Reef  Symposium, The Chinese University of Hong Kong ,  Hong Kong SAR , China from 18th  June   to 24 th June 2006.She has the honor of participating in the Seventh Asia Pacific Marine biotechnology conference  NIO, Regional Centre-Kochi , kerala , India from 2 November to 5 Novemmbr 2006..She also participated in many International  Workshops on the Taxonomy of  Octocorals ., .

Dr. Anita's Published Articles and Papers  :  Scientist Dr Anita's ,many Papers and Articles have been published in some of the famous  International  Journals and Magazines,  To cite  a few : [1]The Article, "Octoral diversity and distribution on the South-West Indian Coast "authored by Dr Anita G. Mary  and R.D. Sluka and S.Lazarus has been published[2011], in , "Marine Biodiversity Records , Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom,4:e16:1-11.      [2.]The paper ,"The biota of shallow rocky reefs on the west coast of India " was published in the , CORDIO Status Report 2011. Obura  &Samoilys MA[Eds]. ,CORDIO  East Africa .http;//www.cordioea.org/status-report-2011/.    [ 3.]Dr. Anita's Paper[2008],"Abundance and Community structure of Reef Building Corals in  Lakhsdweep Islands , India' was published in "Atol Research  Bulletin , NMNH, Smithsonian Institution , No. 563.[4]  The paper,jointly written by Lazarus , S. and Dr. Anita G. Mary[2006]was published in"Biodiversity studies by IERSE using underwater equipment in National research and Monitoring Workshop, [eds.V.K.Melkani, V.Naganathan and R.U.Maheswari], GOMBRT, Ramanathapuram,TamilNadu,  Publ.5, Vol.1:107-109.[5]Her Research papers have been published in many famous international science and research magazines and journals  like, "Proceedings of the Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology,. "Proceedings of the first national Seminar on Trends in Marine  Biotechnology, Indian  ICAS  publications., ENVIS Publications series, etc etc.

Conclusion  : Before concluding it  is better to have  a look at some of her adventurous  under -sea experiences   .According to her she was the first  and only Indian female Marine Scientist with an International Diving license  .She takes pride to call herself as the lover of the sea. . According to her there is a wonderful world beneath the sea waters and she says every time she goes  into  the sea  she gets new, new novel experiences. She used to take short notes about those different colorful living beings under the water.  Diver Dr. Anita  has met various dangerous experiences and nightmares inside the sea . She says the lovely sea  is as dangerous as it is beautiful. She says a Sea Diver has to face  many dangers like ,water current shock, the attack of the bursting of Sea Rocks  and the horrible hotness of the under water and so on.  Undeterred by all these shocking experiences and threats , Dr Anita dives into the sea and reaches nearly 150 meters inside the deep unfathomable sea in search new flora and fauna and  wonders .This brave and adventurous Marine Scientist Dr. Anita , is really a born Lover of Sea  and in her field of marine research , today she is a recognized Scientist internationally and she has got rare privileges to chair many International   Seminars . Today she is working as the India Program Manager , Global Vision International, UK,  from March 2013 till date with great dignity and dedication . The world will shortly  and surely notice her extraordinary contributions   and  accomplishments .Really she is  a Milestone not only on the outer  surface of the earth  but also  she is a Sea Milestone even below the surface of the sea.

[Shortly  this article will be updated].
P. BABU MANOHARAN. [Rights reserved].