Manjula goes blogging...

After a quasi-European upbringing, it took me a while to get used to temperature in Fahrenheit, distance in miles, and measurements in inches. Now, I know that I don’t have to bring out my stockings and woollies when the weatherman says it is 72°F. And miles don’t trouble me either. But inches? They continue to trouble me, especially when fractions are announced in sixteenth’s of an inch. More recently, inches caused some trouble in a transatlantic sea turtle project…

As part of a study to evaluate the interaction between sea turtles and fisheries in the rich and heavily fished waters of Morocco, a few willing fishermen were provided datasheets and measuring tapes to collect data on any turtles caught in their hooks or nets. One small detail caused a big “uh-oh” - the measuring tapes bought in the USA had inches on one side and centimeters on the other. The fishermen did not recognize the difference and provided measurements using whichever side of the tape measure was conveniently up. Fortunately, our astute Moroccan collaborator caught the problem very early and care is now taken to provide measuring tapes with only centimeters on both sides…