About us

Fleurieu Marine Education provides programs that aim to create stewards of the ocean in each young heart. Ali and Renee won the expression of interest process to provide educational services at the South Australian Whale Centre in Victor Harbor in early 2022, leading to the creation of Fleurieu Marine Education. While the Whale Centre has been undergoing renovations, Renee and Ali have been busy running programs at the Victor Harbor Library, taking Kindy kids on beach excursions, and offering incursion programs to schools.

Our team put on fun and exciting educational marine programs that cover Australian curriculum content. By getting children outside we show them the wonders of the sea around the Fleurieu Peninsula: what marine life is found here, and how can we help them survive. We want all children to develop a love for our planet.

Our values

Collectively we strive to spark curiosity by facilitating opportunities to investigate and explore the maritime world. We believe in encouraging young minds to interact with the natural environment. Children learn by doing and interacting with their world. The natural world provides many opportunities for us to experiment with ideas; to think, question and make hypotheses. Becoming citizen scientists is a great way to foster inquisitive minds. Research suggests that children are more likely to thrive when they are connected to nature. Our planet needs future caretakers with a diverse understanding of local ecosystems and a confidence to help enact positive changes – small and big.

We aim to:

• Create programs that align with the Australian National Curriculum.
• Increase marine education with school group tours of the Whale Centre and program bookings with schools, kindergartens, OSHC and holiday programs.
• Encourage Special Education and disability group visits to the Whale Centre due to improved access and facilities of the centre.
• Continue developing relationships with community groups such as Dolphin Watch Victor Harbor, the Encounter Bay Right Whale Study, Fleurieu Marine Life, Friends of Granite Island, and Friends of Hindmarsh River.
• Create community engagement though citizen science and holiday programs.
• Promote whale education and encourage whale watching and reporting of sightings during whale season.

Our team

Ali

Alexandra (Ali) Bloomfield has a PhD in marine science and a Bachelor of Environmental Science (Hons. First Class). She has experience tutoring at university as well as educating pre-school children about marine life. She has presented talks at international conferences as well as at community forums.

Ali has spent over a week of her life (minute for minute) SCUBA diving, a lot of it here in South Australia doing biodiversity surveys of rocky reefs. Ali has lived in the Victor Harbor region for 12 years raising her children with her husband.

“From my experience, children really enjoy finding items on the beach. This creates a fantastic opportunity for marine education as they seek clarification of what they have actually found.”