Eritrea: A New Brilliant Young Eritrean Scientist

Asmara (HAN) January 11, 2015 – Public diplomacy and the Horn of Africa Intelligence analyst files. Expert Analysis, Your Power & Regional Influence Magazine, opinion page “A Brilliant, Young Eritrean Scientist,” By. Thomas C. Mountain.

Thomas C. Mountain, who has a special interest in seeing the successful development of Eritrea’s maritime industry, spends much of the year on Eritrea’s coast, fishing, sailing, diving and studying the marine environment there. He has been living and reporting from Eritrea since 2006

The Eritrean Scientist, Habtemichael Habtetzion, “Habtet” to family and friends, is a brilliant, hard working, nationalist young Eritrean scientist. He is presently past the half way point in earning his Ph.D. at one of China’s most prestigious University’s specializing in Aquaculture and already has 4 papers published in prominent scientific journals.

The PBS aired documentary about the development of the world’s first Integrated Seawater Agriculture farm in Massawa Eritrea:


Habtet was one of the first graduates from Eritrea’s Marine College and immediately began work at the then cutting edge project known as Sea Water Farm in Massawa. There he was part of advanced aquaculture programs until the CIA sabotaged the project by introducing a virus into one of the shrimp ponds and used it as an excuse to cut funding for the project.

With the closure of Sea Water Farm, Habtet was the only one able to independently continue aquaculture activities through working with an aquaculture expert from Israel.

In 2011 Habtet was able to secure an invitation for a two month visit to the Nanjing Agricultural University where he quickly caught the attention of a prominent professor through his hard work and willingness to get his hands dirty by joining in the manual labor involved in the aquaculture activities. Of the over 40 African graduate students invited Habtet was one of only four offered a full scholarship for his Masters Degree.

Habtet struggled at first to familiarize himself with the advanced scientific testing equipment and remained on campus during the winter break to spend time directly under his Professor gaining hands on experience with the highly technical systems used to analyze the various experiments being conducted. This hard work paid off and Habtet soon published his first paper in a respected aquaculture journal where he established the accelerated growth rates in fish at higher water temperatures. He followed up on this with another project where he demonstrated the most effective protein levels for fish food in promoting fish growth rates.

In 2013 Habtet was granted a full scholarship to continue his studies in the Ph.D.. program, one of only two successful applicants out of more than 350 Masters Degree graduates from all over the world who applied for the doctorate studies program.

Habtet has already been the lead author in two papers on fish and shellfish immunology and toxicology during the first half of his doctorate studies and is on track to complete his studies with honors in another year and a half.

With a newly minted Ph.D. in his portfolio including numerous papers published in prestigious scientific publications Habtet will be able to pick and choose from any number of very well paid job offers in academia or the growing aquaculture industry from any of a number of countries internationally.

While Habtet could take the money and run his dream is to return to his Motherland and help lead the development of a mass, modern, environmentally sustainable aquaculture industry in Eritrea.

After studying within the center of the largest, most advanced aquaculture industry in the world in China Habtet knows what can be done in our country.

He knows how Eritrea, due to its year round high water temperatures and salinity, nutrient rich near shore waters and calm, “lagoon” water conditions is one of the best places on the planet to develop an aquaculture industry.

To give readers an idea of just how much potential fish farming has here in Eritrea a one hectare fish cage (100m x 100m x 10m deep) can be used to raise 100,000 fish to a mature size of 1.5 kilos in six months. In one year one such hectare sized fish cage can produce 300,000 kilos of fish.

One hundred hectare sized fish cages can produce 30 million kilos of fish in one year and Eritrea has over 4,000 square kilometers of sea area ideally suited for doing so in the Massawa to Tio region of the Red Sea.

Under the leadership and expertise of brilliant, hard working, nationalist young scientists like Habtet, Eritrea can not only provide an ample supply of quality fish for Eritrea’s people to eat, especially our school children, for sufficient fish consumption has a direct relationship to intelligence development in children (fish is “brain food”) but also to provide a major, consistent source of foreign currency earnings from fish exports which can play an important role in helping develop and diversify Eritrea’s economy.

A modern aquaculture industry will provide many thousands of well paying jobs ranging from advanced scientific researchers, to highly skilled technicians in the hatcheries and breeding programs, skilled workers for the fish cages and many more thousands of support workers in processing and shipment of the fish.

It is critical that our leaders recognize and support brilliant, hardworking, nationalist young Eritrean scientists like Habtet and if they do Eritrea’s future will only grow brighter.

 

Photo: Seawater farm Eritrea: Seawater farm Eritrea. Mangrove,  Salicornia plant


The Geeska Afrika Online is Free government-funded. HAN (Horn of Africa newsline) shapes its editorial policy free from political and commercial influence.


 

Geeska Afrika Online (1985 -2015) – The International Gateway news and views about the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Somaliland, Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda), the best IGAD news and information Online Site for the last 30 Years.


HAN & Geeska Afrika Online (1985-2015), the oldest free independent Free Press in the region, brings together top journalists from across the Horn of Africa. Including Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Oromo, Amhara, Somali, Afar and Harari. Plus, we have daily translations from 150 major news organizations in the Middle East and East African regions. Contact at news@geeskaafrika.com


Posted

in

, , ,

by

Tags:

Comments

11 Responses to “Eritrea: A New Brilliant Young Eritrean Scientist”

  1. Seawater farm Eritrea in Eritrea

    This project started earlier in the late nineties by an American lecturer at a certain University in the USA.This professor started the project with a humble idea as an integrated sea water food for people as well as domestic animals(Goats) and produce compost to feed the Prawns in the pond,that is a BIO-marine pond.Heather o Mr Thomas C. Mountain telling me that the CIA sabotaged with infecting the shrimps (prawns). People swimming and using the pond as a WC can also be the cause in the Ghorgusum Beach area. This Mr Mountain writes a lot of non-sensual articles from Asmara, negating the many doomed to fail projects in and around Massawa. He is a mouth peace of a determined Dictator who destroyed every functioning project since 1993.

  2. John Hill

    As usual Mr Mountain comes up with his garbage. I wonder why he wastes his time this way?

  3. Dantheman

    Pahahahahahaha. Oh god these people are so delusional.

    I’ll admit it. I only look up Eritrean news as comedy now when I get bored. God bless you for writing this haha.

    They should probably do a joint science venture with North Korea while they’re at it. I heard they landed a man on the sun awhile back.

    Oh wait! Do a story about Eritrea’s future planned Mars mission from the Eritrean Space Administration. I swear I would give a few dollars if you made a site that ONLY made stories like this! lol

  4. Simerrr2012

    This funny Thomas Mountain has lies bigger than Mount Everest . Is he not the one who told us the British men came to Eritrea to kill the dictator and spotted by d Eritrean woman And they came under arrest .later the government told another story . This is not the man who tell that the economy rise in two digits where there is no economy talk. This man is disgusting for any journalist. I have no idea where studied Journalism,,,,in Korea?

    1. Abraham tekle

      Simerrr2012
      Make sure you have a nice strong and comfortable rope for you are going to need it soon

  5. Haki Zereba

    Mr. Thomas Mountain, that is good you report about Habtet and Congratulation Habtet for your sucess, but Mr. Thomas why you like to lie a big lie as big as mountain. Seawater farm Eritrea was sabotaged bu Mr. Afewerki and after the encanseration of the G-15, in this respect Mr. Petros Solomen, Isayes took the managemet from Mr. Karl Hodges to his colonels (Example Colonel yacob). The real sabaotager for the projet was Iseyas not CIA as far as I know, I used to work over there and I know Habtet when we work by the Haile house(main office). Better to talk about Habtet and his achivments only, not try to cover up isyays evil acts.

  6. Just a question is he married to Aunty Sophia T.
    CIA said ? if the chicken stop laying eggs they will blame some foreign agents for that, The mad president can’t bare any blame for our problems , we have to find someone emmm Yes CIA that it. Get a life man and report on real issues or get the hell out of there, you the only westerner left in there is that a status to you dump head.

    1. Alem K.

      That was so hilarious and true. Thank you

  7. Alem K.

    Brother Habtemichael Habtetzion if what ever said in the article is true we are so proud of you and I hope we will have more educated people like you and congrats.

    How about this amazing heroes Eritrea.
    We Eritreans, as a society we honor, respect and talk a lot about our fallen heroes, our heroes those who gave up everything they had, including their precious life for our sake, so we live independent and free , they died so we can be free and live dignified life. We praise them with songs and raise funds to support their family, and definitely if we had the power we would do everything to raise them from their graves and embrace them as our heroes.
    Shamefully though we FORGOT to honor, respect and protect those who did everything for our liberation but who were fortunate enough to make it alive. They were there on the mountains, valleys, villages and cities day and night 24/7, summer and winter, freezing cold and scorching hot weather, fighting, teaching, planning, and sometimes carrying and burying their fallen comrades not because they were adventurers but because they refused their Eritrean people and their country be ruled by a foreign colonizer. They refused colony, refused foreign occupier and chose to restore freedom and independence for generations to come. They gave up everything and sacrificed their prime time with a motto of “everything can wait but not our people and our country” and hunger thirst, harsh weather didn’t deter them, flying bullets and fire didn’t stop them and they fought and fought and they concurred our independence.
    It is agonizing and painful to see hundreds of our UNFALLEN HEROES, their dignity and freedom striped away and taken away from them, the freedom and independence they helped to secure for us but denied to them, black mailed and thrown into a dungeon like a common criminals, by a heartless and ruthless criminal ISAYAS AFEWORKI and his gangsters. Shamefully as a society we failed to defend them and protect them when they need us the most. SHAME ON US ERITREA.
    They were supposed to be celebrated, decorated, adorned with love and respect for all their sacrifice but instead they got black mailed, their good name tarnished, and thrown into dungeons by unelected, self appointed RUTHLESS criminal ISAYAS AFEWORKI and his gangsters. It is shame they were bunker buddies.
    BITEWEDED ABRHA is one of those, our UNFALLEN HEROES, who sacrificed everything he had and more for our independence. When he watched our Eritrea sliding into tyranny and dictatorship, steered away by a criminal thug into a wrong direction, unlike some who chose to be silent, he refused to be silent, and even though he had the option to run away like everybody else, he refused to runaway to secure his individual freedom but instead chose to face the criminal tyrant ISAYAS AFEWORKI head on. Uncharged for any crime by the criminal regime but mainly because of our silence, our brother our HERO (ANBESA TEGADALAY) our beloved BITEWEDED ABRHA is decaying on a dungeon like a common criminal on the hands of the murderer ISAYAS AFEWORKI and criminal regime. IT IS SHAME ERITREA.

    My Eritrean sisters and brothers lets do what ever it takes to free our heroes and liberate our people and country.
    Everything you do matters, don’t forget when you go to festivals and parties organized by the criminal regime, don’t forget you are financing crime against our brothers and sisters, you are financing torture, you are financing killing.

  8. Seid

    I know Habtit is hardworking and he is one of Eritrea’s future scientists. But I feel sorry to see u making him part PFDJ’s political conspiracy.

    DIA is the man responsible for all the disasters going on in Eritrea.

    Why is all these campaigns? to shut the movement of Eritrean freedom fighters and pressurize our people more? whether u cry as a baby or bark as a dog, change in Eritrea is inevitable.

    I am proud of you Mr. Habtit and keep it up.

    I wish my best to Eritrean people

  9. Leul

    Habte, keep up the good work.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

css.php
Share via
Copy link