Showmitra Chowdhury: The first Bangladeshi ocean scientist in the Antarctic

Bangladeshi ocean scientist Showmitra Chowdhury joined the 43rd Antarctic expedition of India in December last year.

The expedition, led by the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research, Goa, India, is a part of the maritime collaboration among the nations of the Colombo Security Conclave.

Showmitra is a scientific officer of the Biological Oceanography Division at the Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute (BORI).

"He is the first Bangladeshi ocean scientist to be in Antarctica for research work," said Abu Sharif Md Mahbub-E-Kibria, senior scientific officer and head of the Environmental Oceanography and Climate Division at the BORI.

Showmitra and two other scientists from Mauritius started their journey to Antarctica from Cape Town in South Africa on 20 December 2023. The Antarctic expedition will continue for 3-4 months, during which they will undertake collaborative research in various disciplines about polar science and understand the nuances of polar logistics as well as the challenges of the polar environment.

"Showmitra Chowdhury joined the Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute in 2022. When the international expedition was being planned, they asked us to send someone. After that, the former director of the institute, Syed Mahmud Belal Haider, who is currently the chairman of Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation, nominated Showmitra for this," Mahbub-E-Kibria said.

Showmitra graduated in Marine Sciences from the University of Chittagong in 2017. He did his master's in oceanography from the same university.

In March 2021, he co-authored with 11 others in an article titled "Seaweeds farming for sustainable development goals and blue economy in Bangladesh".

The participation of scientists from Indian Ocean countries in the expedition is an outcome of the maiden CSC Oceanographers and Hydrographers conference held in Goa and Hyderabad in November 2022.

Earlier, scientists from CSC nations had embarked onboard the research vessel "Sagar Nidhi" for a month-long scientific expedition in the Indian Ocean in June 2023.

The Colombo Security Conclave was formed in 2011 as a trilateral maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. India, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka are the current members of the Colombo Security Conclave. Bangladesh and the Seychelles are the observer nations. Its secretariat is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The Colombo Security Conclave underlines regional cooperation and shared security objectives concerning all littoral nations in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It aims to make maritime security, marine pollution response, and maritime search and rescue priorities for the region