Link list

While trying to answer a question on Yahoo Answers I stumbled across a rather unfortunate barrier, ie. link limit, so I decided to post it here but seeing it is a career related question on my take of how to get into working with marine mammals, I figured it would work just fine here:

1.WILD

Let's start with the one I would personally favour, working with marine mammals in the wild. There are several jobs that could involve doing that:
research, rehabilitation or eco-tourism (ie. whale watching) but either way college would probably be on the list (not too sure about eco-tourism).

1.1 RESEARCH
If you want to go into research, you have a lot of education in front of you so, great if you have a lot of As to get you there.
While you can get a job at a BSc. level, this is usually not the case if you are aiming to work with marine mammals as these jobs are very few and far between and highly competed for but a BSc. in a biology related subject is a good place to start anyhow. Subjects that I would recommend are :zoology, marine biology, biology, animal behaviour, animal science. One thing you need to be aware of if you choose marine biology however, it is not going to be about marine mammals. While marine mammals is what draws many people to this field, it is only a tiny portion of the big picture and you will spend most of your undergraduate time dealing with animals or algae significantly smaller than that.
If you can, try and do an internship for credit for a semester or so, some universities will let you do that and it may give you the chance to work with marine mammals. I know Eckerd College work closely together with a dolphin research program and College of the Atlantic do a lot on fin whales themselves, so that sort of universities are probably quite recommendable for enabling you to get practical experience.Mote Marine Lab in Florida also offer great college internships, some of them with marine mammals (dolphins and manatees):
http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=gendocs&id=283
If you want to work specifically in marine mammal research, you should then try to go for a related Masters, there are a few universities out there that offer Marine Mammal Science as an MSc. though, again, not many and they are usually difficult to get in, St. Andrews in the UK is renowned for it's program:
http://bio.st-andrews.ac.uk/pageset.aspx?psr=16
Alternatively, look for a subject like Animal Behaviour and research the lecture staff of different universities to see what their research interests are, a lot of people will be reluctant to allow a marine mammal project as they are notoriously difficult and unreliable to do so it helps if you have a supervisor that is interested in what you are doing.
Even with an MSc. though, your dream job is not guaranteed, it will most likely not be the first job you get after uni as experience in the field is highly valued and you may need to do some jobs you do not enjoy as much before even being considered. Some people do get lucky and as unjust as it sounds, knowing people pays off which makes internships and the like even more important, if you impress people there, they will be more likely to give you a good reference, or if they are actually hiring, they often prefer people they know, solely because they know how efficiently you work-or not.
A lot of people working with Marine Mammals will go on to do a Phd. but it is not necessarily a prerequisite and you do not need to do it straight away, an MSc. however will probably help you and also usually ensures slightly higher entry level pay.
A BSc. takes 4 years in the US (3 in Europe), an MSc. 2-3 (1 in Europe) and a Phd. varies, maybe around 3-4 years, shorter or longer also possible.

1.2 REHAB
If you want to go into rehab, you should probably go through Vet school, which I don't know much about and so won't pretend I do know about, lol. You may not need to go all the way, if you are a vet tech with relevant experience, you may be quite welcome in one of the rehab centres. There are quite a lot in the US and if you want to get into that, I highly recommend trying to intern or volunteer with one or more to gain some experience.
I know in the UK there is also an MSc. course called Wild Animal Health, which I presume will qualify you for working in one of these centres as well:
http://www.rvc.ac.uk/Education/Postgraduate/MScWildAnimalHealth/Index.cfm

1.3 ECO-TOURISM
I wouldn't be sure how to go about this one exactly but it's probably one of the ones that has the most varied routes into it I can imagine as you may not need a formal education in biology as long as your knowledge of the animals you are taking tourists to see is sound.
There are some courses in eco-tourism as well though ( I know because I was half thinking of applying to one) but those are usually at MSc. level, it might be something you would consider if you are not too into science.

2. CAPTIVITY
With captive animals, I guess you do have numerous ways to approach it as well, though again, most people seem to think of one of them in specific when they talk about 'working with dolphins'. First of all, we have rehab/vet care again, to some extent there is research and there is what most people think about; training.
Approach for vet care and research would pretty much be the same as described above I would imagine so I won't go over that again. So straight to it:

2.1 TRAINING
First off, let's clear up a misconception here, you do not need a degree to become a trainer, certainly not in marine biology. Training is not about science, it is about manipulation, you do not need a scientific background for that because it has nothing to do with science.
SeaWorld and co do say they like their trainers to have a BSc. degree but fact is, most of them don't, at least not in anything related. They also prefer psychology over marine biology or zoology. You certainly will not need to take your education further than a BSc., what they value is experience and showmanship, so so you should be looking at doing a lot of volunteering, at zoos, aquariums, pet shops, stables, natural history museums....anything that is vaguely related, no experience is bad experience.
There is one college in the US that offers exotic animal training, that is moorpark:
http://www.moorparkcollege.edu/current_students/teaching_zoo/index.shtml
A place that offers training experience relatively frequently is Miami Seaquarium, however the conditions there are more appalling than in most other aquariums holding cetaceans, so I’ would recommend you keep away from that, don't come anywhere near it with a ten metre pole, avoid it like the pest and don't ever set foot into it but that is obviously up to you, other places will probably value it as training experience:
http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/visitor_info/jobs.asp
However can I just say I cannot stress enough what a disgrace that place is....
I personally would recommend having a look to see if Epcot still offer internships with their dolphins, while I am generally not a friend of cetacean captivity, at least the exhibit is a higher standard than most facilities and the dolphins and trainers actually actively participate in research rather than shows:
http://mentor.lscf.ucsb.edu/pipermail/biology-u-l/2000-August/000222.html
Something else I would recommend would be an Animal Care Internship somewhere like Mote:
http://www.mote.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=College%20Internship%3A%20Opportunities&category=Education#hospital
As an Animal Care Intern you work with both rehab animals (they recently had a pygmy sperm whale) and their two resident dolphins (unreleasable rescues) Harley and Moonshine. While Mote does not do shows as they generally present their animals as close to natural as possible, they do do some training, mainly husbandry procedures as presenting parts of the body for inspection etc.
They also have a highschool internship which is however run by the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, not the hospital, during which students observe Harley and Moonshine and produce activity budgets and then go out in the wild to compare this to the behaviour of wild dolphins.
As far as I know you need to be scuba certified as well, so you should probably get into contact with your local PADI or NAUI instructor:
http://www.padi.com/padi/default.aspx?lang=en

Obviously check out the SW career site:
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/training/animal-training-careers.htm

2.3 CONTROVERSY
Before you pursue this any further, you should probably make sure you know what you are getting yourself into, ie. look beyond the glossy image of these shows. I know several people who thought exotic animal training was their dream job and did everything they could to achieve it, finally got accepted- then realised it was nothing like what they thought it would be and quit. Their main complaint about was that it was an artificial experience, extremely restricting and intellectually unchallenging. Sure you work closely with the animals, but mainly on human terms, because of the expectations and goals that need to be reached, there is very limited space for creativity and individuality, which makes the experience artificial. 2 out of 3 people I know that worked with captive cetaceans are now trying to get into working with wild animals instead as they find it both more challenging and rewarding. And that's before we even get to the cetacean captivity controversy.
Whether you personally agree or not, this controversy is something you will come up against, so I suggest looking into it:
A lot of people (including myself) feel that it is unjustifiable to keep cetaceans in captivity for a number of reasons such as:
the completely unadequate enclosures, the enormously reduced life span (at least in the case of orcas, average of mid twenty in captivity compared to 40 and upto 80 in the wild), generally poorer health and susceptibility to respiratory aand liver diseases despite veterinary care, the issues with breeding too early and premature seperation from the family, aggression towards calves by mothers (unobserved in the wild), repetitive shows showing unnatural behaviour and providing a flawed picture of cetaceans to the public which in some cases encourages them to try and replicate those with wild cetaceans causing harm to both animal and person, in some cases performing behaviours that can be harmful to the animal, stress and frustration in the animals resulting from these factors and probably explaining the much increased aggression towards trainers in captivity.

3.HIGH SCHOOL
As mentioned before, experience, whichever path you choose is vital, start volunteering now, look for marine bio summer camps etc. but also choose your classes to reflect your choice.

3.1 Marine bio:
Marine bio or any biological science for that will probably require you to take other sciences as well as physics and chemistry to have a sound background knowledge and a base to build from when you are at uni. If your school offers marine bio, great, obviously go for that.
Statistics are important in any science so if you can, like it or not, it will benefit you in the long run.
Being able to successfully use computer programs such as Excel and Access as well as being able to efficiently search the net for information and know your resources as Google Scholar, Web of Science etc but you will probably learn that in Uni.
It would also be helpful if you knew how to use statistical computer packages such as SPSS, Minitab or R and finally writing skills is always a good skill to have.
Something else you could do for extra experience and to show you are interested would be to join NOSB, the National Ocean Science Bowl:
http://www.nosb.org/


4. LINKS

4.1 MARINE BIO LINKS
Related Answers:
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhEOlQpUoCL6e9uLirCz10_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080827144901AAtbFPL&show=7#profile-info-3Az94CGxaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkRurUVTkSqGjYZ8jbYT_gTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080806102654AAYGLum&show=7#profile-info-9BLnHSFXaa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmvNIuawnYCr2JDDxda_efPty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080827103817AANiisY&show=7#profile-info-7628ac576ceb56d650a9d1942f1c840baa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmvNIuawnYCr2JDDxda_efPty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080827103817AANiisY&show=7#profile-info-7628ac576ceb56d650a9d1942f1c840baa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkRurUVTkSqGjYZ8jbYT_gTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080503110614AA5Uxfg&show=7#profile-info-tAW7xxXBaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AigRc7UGdWH8OYIFjb0Eo_zty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080429165758AAxMLan&show=7#profile-info-9af0485090f88987887445c253c45af1aa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApOzIg9Z3meRIw1Va7rMW_7ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080422202158AATZwnP&show=7#profile-info-0cNKI9fJaa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmvNIuawnYCr2JDDxda_efPty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080315113220AAAwkvo&show=7#profile-info-rhBZheS6aa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ahx0QPbwAB3qF3WUAIby_P_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080909220901AAp0HSu&show=7#profile-info-7eFDuYs6aa
http: //answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Aovcydaq63DfzDlIbW6fZIfty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080308101532AA8WFN5&show=7#profile-info-InF4AwLLaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqaPkKEwJQu0fsEu0SQdb5Dty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071008162428AA73DSG&show=7#profile-info-FCnfCJV7aa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ai5sasNASA49ZBl4qtWjpg_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20081020185005AAwLKMp&show=7#profile-info-GVL5Ap2raa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiTiuSXtiP3E4FkVUAJEksjty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080831045540AAYTPlo&show=7#profile-info-R9ApljELaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ahx0QPbwAB3qF3WUAIby_P_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080829081650AAvqrJT&show=7#profile-info-yk71WuvXaa

Interview with a marine biologist:
http://planktonforums.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4936
http://life.bio.sunysb.edu/marinebio/mycareer.html
http://teacher.scholastic.com/zealand/sealife/baker.htm
http://www.gurl.com/showoff/spotlight/qa/0,,686921,00.html
http://whale.wheelock.edu/archives//ask01/0207.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2006/dec/12/academicexperts.highereducationprofile
http://library.thinkquest.org/J001458/interview.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_/ai_60270429

Marine Bio career info/sites:
http://marinebio.org/MarineBio/Careers/
http://planktonforums.org/viewforum.php?f=30
http://www-marine.stanford.edu/careers.htm
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Marine_Biologist/Salary
http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/PR/schools4.html
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/links/marinesci/
http://www.career-descriptions.co.uk/marine-biologist-career-description.htm
http://www.unixl.com/dir/physical_sciences/marine_biology/
http://www.sos.bangor.ac.uk/future_career.php.en
http://www.careers-scotland.org.uk/CareerInformation/Occupations/ScienceandMathematics/Biology/MarineBiologist.asp
http://www.ulinks.com/marinebiologycolleges-marinebiologyschoolscareersdegree.htm

4.2 TRAINING LINKS:

Related answers:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmvNIuawnYCr2JDDxda_efPty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080826140348AAd7v6s&show=7#profile-info-0PS8iQ9iaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=At6zwT06qASsLpdO7068mtzty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080806102409AAhxYoz&show=7#profile-info-9BLnHSFXaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhEOlQpUoCL6e9uLirCz10_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080324170500AA0zgwP&show=7#profile-info-2xcArIi0aa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhEOlQpUoCL6e9uLirCz10_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080213092226AA9zOv0&show=7#profile-info-nMbasiPuaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkRurUVTkSqGjYZ8jbYT_gTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080201140300AAUvI69&show=7#profile-info-jAOcDBQ2aa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Auo8vXYxMQv4JSCg9l95T6rty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080829215741AAf8InB&show=7#profile-info-h2Bgsy8Haa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhEOlQpUoCL6e9uLirCz10_ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080908184707AAziBta&show=7#profile-info-518is8xCaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgeILkpGrjPLWbgkmGGEB23ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080911123205AA0SuXI&show=7#profile-info-huhHXItIaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkRurUVTkSqGjYZ8jbYT_gTty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080930183816AAwM0R5&show=7#profile-info-OwNlomlTaa
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqaPkKEwJQu0fsEu0SQdb5Dty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20081016072104AAjbZGR&show=7#profile-info-y4u4Zmq1aa

Training links
http://www.dolphintrainer.com/
http://www.vanaqua.org/education/aquafacts/marinemammaltrainer.html
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/381

It's been a while....

...but I have an excuse! Really I do! Being back just about 1 day from my amazing trip to South Africa, I was already on the next journey, this time an 8 hour boat trip to Northern Ireland where I have started my MSc. in Animal Behaviour and Welfare which has kept me fairly busy, though probably not as busy as it should have.... Chronic laziness is already setting in again which I need to put a stop to it before the work load piles up!
I'm afraid that means I am going to be a bit lazy on the behalf of the blog instead and post some questions I answered for a career project instead, which to be fair, gives an insight into marine bio as well:

1)Q.What kinds of classes are you required to take?

A. Even if you go straight for a Marine Biology BSc. (rather than doing Biology or a related course and then specialising on Marine Biology during your MSc.,) you will still be required to do some ‘pure’ biology. It does vary from university to university but generally, the first year is a time to bring everyone up to the same standard so there will be a lot of basic information as well as some more specialised courses. Some courses I took during my time at university included:

Cell Biology: basically the study of cells and organelles, different cell types and how cells work.

Molecular Biology: biology at molecular scale, interactions of RNA, DNA, protein biosynthesis and cloning.

Marine Organisms and Habitats: an introduction to common marine species, lifecycles and habitats.

Marine Biology Practical Skills: a practical course with lots of field work and experiments dealing with marine habitats and organisms such as macro algae, invertebrates and small fish species.

Physical Oceanography: physical processes and cycles in the ocean

Evolutionary Ecology: introduction to population genetics models and how evolution shaped behaviour.

Marine Foodwebs: exploring the intricate foodwebs of the ocean

Vertebrate Biology: practical course concentrating on vertebrate anatomy, taxonomy and locomotion.

Marine Conservation: problems, planning and skills encountered in the conservation of marine systems.

Fish Biology: biology, anatomy, physiology and behaviour of fish

Comparitive physiology; looking at the diversity of functional characteristics of various kinds of organisms

Animal Survival Strategies: learning about survival strategies of animals in extreme environments as the arctic or a desert.

2)Q. How many years do you need to go to school (minimum)?

A. You will need at least a Bachelors degree to find a job in this field, this means that you will have to go to school for an absolute minimum of 4 years in the US (3 in the UK). However obtaining a Masters course or even a Phd. (a Dr.) is highly recommended as it will dramatically increase job opportunities. To do a Masters takes about 2 years in the US (1 in the UK) and the duration of a Phd. varies from about 3 to 6 years,

3)Q. What certifications are required and do they expire?

1. As mentioned previously, a BSc. Degree is the absolute minimum requirement. Degrees obviously do not expire as such however as you are working in a scientific field, the state of information is constantly evolving so you need to stay up to date with the newest developments in order for your work to be up to standard.

Another certifications that may be required in some jobs, but not necessarily in all, is a scuba certification. These can be acquired from operators such as PADI or NAUI and as far as I am aware do not expire either. However if you do not dive regularly, you may be asked to do a refresher course as obviously, your life may be at risk other wise.

If you are working from a boat and are responsible for your crew, you may also be asked to do a boat safety and first aid course. While the boat safety certificate does not expire as far as I am aware, first aid course certificates do so you need to keep on top of that.

4)Q. What is the expected beginning salary?

A. Entry level pay varies with qualifications. With a BSc. you will be looking at about US $25000 to $30000. With a Masters, this can increase to about US $40000. This usually increases further once you have gained more experience and government jobs tend to pay a lot better than private Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

5)Q.How difficult is it to find a job?

A. It is quite difficult, there are a lot of people interested in marine biology and not that many jobs. It is a matter of persevering and not turning your nose up at jobs that may seem unappealing at first sight, if it’s a job in the field it will increase your chance of future employment and being flexible is also important, if you are for example reluctant to move or look for jobs abroad as well, you may be at a disadvantage. You may be better of doing a combined major ( I did marine biology with zoology), or starting of with a more general degree in straight biology and then specialising later on as it will give you a broader field of knowledge which will open up more job opportunities.

6)Q. Is it a very stable job?

1. No, I do not think so, especially when starting of. Some positions may only be seasonal or for a set amount of time to complete a certain research project, say 3 years before you will need to move on and find another job with someone else. Some jobs are more stable than others, for example working for a research lab as a staff scientist or lecturing at a university, these sort of jobs are usually far more stable and are held for long periods of time but are also very hard to come by and require a lot of experience.

7)Q. What kinds of benefits are offered?

A. I am not aware of any specific sort of benefits, if you are lucky you get to study what you have always wanted to work with which is enough for some people. Again, jobs as staff scientists or researchers employed at Marine Labs, universities or especially governmental jobs would have better benefits than a seasonal fishery observer.

8Q. How many hours are you needed to work?

A. This is very hard to answer because there are so many different type of jobs a marine biologist could do. Especially when working in the field hours can be unpredictable and weather dependent. I have worked from 8 AM to 6 PM without any real lunch break and had another day completely off because the weather was playing up and we had not work to do in the lab at all (although, this is a very rare occurrence). While doing lab work we usually started at around 9 AM and worked until about 5PM 5 days a week, a fairly standard amount. However as previously mentioned when you are working in the field it depends on a lot of factors such as the weather and the season and the occasional 12 hour day is not out of the ordinary. When doing field work you will furthermore most likely finding yourself sacrificing several weekends a month because for example the weather during the week was incredibly bad and the weekend is the only time you can go out.

9)Q. Is it hard to find a school that offers the required classes?

A. I did not find it very hard though admittedly Marine Biology is a very specialised field and not as many universities offer it as ‘pure’ biology. You can always specialise on Marine Biology when doing your Masters and do something more general at an undergraduate level.

10)Q. Is it really expensive to go to school to become a Marine Biologist?

1. I do not think it is any more expensive that going to school for anything else. Of course, it takes longer than in some other jobs as most jobs require at least a Masters, so that could increase the costs however the real cost is doing unpaid volunteering or internships.

Experience is vital for even being considered for a job, however without a job you will not gain any experience so you will have difficulty finding a job to gain experience with, it is a bit of a vicious circle really. This is why many people do unpaid internships or volunteer at aquariums or marine labs. With the growing popularity of eco-tourism it is actually becoming quite difficult to even find an internship or work experience that does not charge you for participating as a lot of places that previously offered work experience have realised that some tourists will pay a lot of money to help out with interesting research projects. So while going to school for Marine Biology may not cost more than if you were getting a Masters in another subject, it will probably cost you a good bit to get work experience.

11)Q. Did you have to transfer to a different school because the one you were at did not offer the classes you needed?

A. No, however I did change course in my second year from Marine Biology to Marine Biology and Zoology as I felt the latter would be a better choice for the future and offered classes that interested me more.

12)Q. Once you have found a job, do you have to move a lot?

A. Marine Biology is a very varied field so it is hard to give a definite answer. I would say it definitely helps

if you are not opposed to moving somewhere else or even abroad as it opens up a lot more opportunities than trying to stay in one place. If you are lucky enough to find a job as a staff biologist or at a university somewhere you have a pretty stable job that does not really require moving unless you want/need to go abroad for research, if this is a part of your job at the university however it is more likely this will be a temporary move of several months rather than long term.

13)Q. How long to you have to work before you can start to do work in the field?

A. As this is a very competitive field it could be a while until you work in the field which can be a harsh awakening if you did a lot of field work during your Masters for example. Most research positions are held with people who have Phd. so if you do not have a Phd. you may be looking at another 5 to 6 years experience to make up for that. Most people start of as lab technicians or something at university which will mean you occasionally get to work in the field assisting with other people’s research but in order to do your own research in the field you most likely need a Phd. as well as several years of sound research experience working for someone else before anyone will think about funding your work!

I do know some people who managed to get a position at a research lab pretty much after they graduated but a lot of these people knew people at the lab already and had volunteered there previously, knowing people and having connections is very useful as people will know what to expect of you and your standard of work! Another reason why doing a lot of volunteering and interning is very important!

It is also important to note that not all marine biologists work in the field, some people will only spend very limited time in the field and will spend most time analysing samples, as for example marine toxicologists studying red tide. Other marine biologists may work for conservation NGOs and spend most of their time doing paper work, campaigning and fund raising and will log next to no field time no matter what their position.

14) Q.Can you go to school to be a Marine Biologist for a special field? (I.e. whales, dolphins, etc.)

A. Yes, it is possible however you will require at least a Masters to do that, specialisation is not possible at a BSc. level and even at a Masters level it may be hard, especially for a field as Marine Mammal Science, only a limited number of schools offer this as a course and it is usually very hard to get into them because of the number of applicants. If you cannot get onto a course of your choice, or area you want to specialise on does not exist as a course, go for something that will let you incorporate your study area in the course. At the end of your Masters you will usually be asked to do a research project and you can then propose to do it on the subject of your choice. If you are looking at doing this, it can help to research the staff members of the university you are thinking of applying to and have a look at their interests. A lot of people do not like to take on marine mammal projects as they can be difficult to organise and are not as reliable to produce results as some lab based ones, so if you find a supervisor with an interest in marine mammals, this will increase your chance of being able to do a project on them.

It is important to note however that specialising on a specific subject will not guarantee you will find a job in that field and may even damage your job prospects on some occasions as people may see you as having a limited range of knowledge.

15) Q. Does Marine Biology have a high turnover rate?

1. Stable jobs as for example staff biologists at marine labs or lecturers at universities tend to have a very low turnover rate, they are well paying stable jobs and people will generally hang onto them if they can.

Starting positions such as lab techs have higher turnover rates as these are often jobs taken up by people with a BSc. who often leave quite quickly to either pursue an MSc. or a better job.

So, Marine Biologists train dolphins, right?

It's time to clear up some of the major misconceptions about marine biology. And to get right down to it no, marine biologists do not train dolphins, and what is more most do not have even the slightest shadow of an inclination to do it either.
While it may have become clear from my previous post that marine biology may not quite be what it is made out to be by some aspiring students, I feel it is important to pin point and address some of the most common misconceptions separately as well.
For now, I would like to bring in the help of another website as I could not possibly put it any better:

So you want to be a marine biologist? Well sonny, or sonnette, as the case may be, why don’t you just sit down and let a real marine biologist give you some damn good advice. And wipe that smirk off your face, sit up straight and for goodness sakes stop fidgeting! You’d think you had lice the way you are carrying on. You do? Oh well, never mind.

First of all there are three really, really bad reasons to want to be a marine biologist. If you have even an inkling that these are yours, please run away as fast as possible, ‘cause neither you nor we will be happy.

Three Really, Really Bad Reasons to Want to Be a Marine Biologist

Reason Number One: "I want to be a marine biologist so that I can talk to dolphins."

Believing this is simply the Kiss of Death. This is the verbal equivalent of reaching down your throat, pulling out your own intestines, wrapping them around your neck and choking yourself. When we hear this our impulse is to thwack you a good one on your keester with the frozen haddock we keep within arm’s reach just for this occasion.

And why is that? It is because, and please listen carefully, while you may want to talk to dolphins, dolphins do not want to talk to you. That’s right. Mostly, dolphins want to eat fishes and have sex with other dolphins. And that pretty much cuts you out of the loop, doesn’t it? Oh, I know that there are the occasional dolphins that hang around beaches, swim with humans and seem to be chummy, but these are the exceptions. You don’t judge the whole human race by the people who attend monster car rallies, do you?

Just be honest with yourself. If you want to talk to dolphins you don’t want to be a biologist. What you really want to do is explore your past lives, get in touch with the Cosmic Oneness and conduct similar-minded individuals on tours to Central America looking for evidence that We Are Not Alone. Our experience is that people who feel this way last about 6.5 minutes in any biology program.

Reason Number Two: "I want to be a marine biologist because I really like Jacques Cousteau."

That’s nice. We really like Jacques Cousteau, too. But, drinking thousands of gallons of red wine while scuba diving around the world does not make you a marine biologist. It makes you a wonderful and effective spokesperson for the sea, and gives you a liver with the consistency of a chocolate necco wafer, but it does not make you a marine biologist.

Reason Number Three: "I want to be a marine biologist because I want to make big bucks."

Okay, here’s the bottom line. By Federal law, marine biologists have to take a vow of poverty and chastity. Poverty, because you are not going to make squat-j-doodly in this job. Just how squat is the doodly we are talking about? Well, five years after finishing my PhD I was making slightly less than a beginning manager at McDonalds. Ooh, a 36 year old guy with 13 years of college and 5 years of post-doctoral experience making just about as much as a semi-literate 19 year old with pimples the size of Bolivia, who can speak perhaps 3 words at a time before the term "you know" enters the conversation.

And chastity because, well, who’s going to date a marine biologist? The smell alone tends to dissuade a large proportion of the opposite sex.

Two Really, Really Good Reasons to Want to Be a Marine Biologist

Reason Number One: "You can dress and act almost any way you want."

This is true. Marine biologists are almost entirely free of any of those silly restrictions that blight the professional landscape of our fellow proletarians. This is because no one really cares about what we do or what we say. You want to come to work dressed in scabrous khaki shorts and a torn black Sandman shirt? Fine. You want to grow a scruffy beard, get a tattoo of a gooseneck barnacle on your arm or burp at inopportune moments? No problem, just do good work.

Reason Number Two: "If you like it, just do it."

Look, the reality is that you only go around once in life and if, by chance, you do come back, knowing how you have behaved in this life, you will undoubtedly come back as a slime mold. And most slime molds cannot be marine biologists. So just go out there and do what you enjoy. Marine biology is a wonderful profession. You want to find cancer cures by grinding up sponges? How about figuring out why hammerhead sharks always come back to the same seamount? Or where is the missing carbon dioxide that industries are producing; could the ocean be soaking it up? All neat projects. But pay attention here. None of this involves drinking copious quantities of fermented grape juice, while intoning "The ocean, she is strange and wondrous, filled with animals that disturb even a Frenchman."

The ocean is an exciting, never-dull place that is perfect for piddling away your existence. And just think, you actually get paid to think cool thoughts and do cool things.

And so what if you will never have sex again?

So do you still want to become a marine biologist?

Next time, more on my personal take on these misconceptions and others, especially the dolphin trainer prejudice and educational requirements.

Marine Biology- What is it really and what is it not?

For the amount of people that want to get involved in marine biology, there is a surprising amount of confusion about what it actually entails. To be fair, my knowledge of what it was was probably no less fuzzy than that of many other confused souls when they first get interested in it. I loved the beach and collecting/watching things I found on it, I watched a lot of BBC documentaries and Jacques Cousteau and thought it looked like an interesting thing to do, I mean, driving around on the boat into the sunset and going swimming, it seemed perfect. It does not seem any less perfect now but a lot less fuzzy.

So what is marine biology?

Technically speaking marine biology is a science that deals with the animals, plants and other organisms that live and depend on bodies of saltwater, such as seas and oceans, for food and other necessities.

What does this mean for people who work in it exactly? For a start it means there is a lot more to marine biology than driving around on a boat and filming animals. It most likely also means you will have to take at least a temporary vow of poverty but more on that later, for now let's just say, if you are in it for the money, go home now.

Marine Biology is a very varied field and the impression you can get about it from watching documentaries is a very limited one. Documentaries show a glossy version of marine biology where the biologists go out, find animals, watch them and then film them in the setting sun. That's not to say those jobs don't exist, they are just incredibly rare.

What are you more likely to do then? What exactly you end up doing depends heavily on the field you choose, you could spend the day processing water samples in the lab and counting algal cells under a microscope (for example if you study red tide), you could be analysing tissue samples to find out contaminant levels in different species of marine animals, you could be teaching at a university, you could be patrolling beaches for sea turtle nests, you could be cleaning out aquarium tanks, you could be involved in an environmental impact assessment, you could be devising a new plan to protect coastal communities, you could be writing grant proposals and meeting with potential sponsors, you could be on the computer doing research and reading up on papers relevant to your own research, you could be statistically analysing your data and writing up the results, you could be on the shore measuring algae fronds or setting up quadrants to study inter-tidal communities, you could be on the beach digging holes to obtain samples from deeper layers to assess the population of interstitial microfauna, you could be taking blood from crabs to determine hormone levels, you could be out on the boat doing research and experiments; for example fishing and evaluating the catch, or taking plankton samples- in short there is a lot of things you could be doing, from complete desk jobs to research jobs out at sea but one thing is for sure, most of them are not half as glamorous as what you see on TV. And even those glamarous jobs that many people yearn for don't mean you get out of the dirty work or the tedious data analysis. A good day in the field in my experience typically drags a few good days of data entry, double checking and analyse after it...

Marine biology is a very competitive field and to reach your dream job, be it evaluating plankton samples or driving off into the sunset with a film crew, you will have to work hard and get a lot of education and experience. As I previously said, I can't claim that I have 'made it' but I have managed to snatch a glance at the elusive dolphins in the sunset szenario (to me preferable to plankton samples) but most of the time I have spend upto my thighs in muck measuring algal frounds, picking fish guts out of my hair, double checking and entering data (sometimes from 7 years ago), freezing my arse off in winds at freezing temperatures and convincing ill tempered crustaceans they really do want to go into a maze- and I have loved it. I may have cursed about it at the time, but I wouldn't trade it for anything.



Next time, more on education, vow of poverty and common misconceptions about marine biology.

Who wants to be a marine biologist?

Ah, another wonderful rainy day in Britain. Oh well, time to curl up with several cups of tea and write a little bit and it goes from being a miserable day to a cosy day :) Usually rainy days don't tend to be very inspirational but this time around I've actually come up with something. I've graduated from a BSc. in Marine Biology and Zoology and am starting my MSc. in Animal Behaviour. Like many people I am fascinated by the ocean and it's inhabitants and I want to work in this area.

There are however many other people who want to get into this field and seem confused about how to go about it and what to expect s exemplified by the number of people ask me about it on a constant basis, so I decided to offer some advice and write a little series of blog entries on what marine biology entails and how best to get into it. I can't claim to have 'made it', I am still a postgraduate student but I do have the experience of going through the course and working in relevant internships and have been in turn offered advice by established marine biologist so I feel I can provide a little help in the right direction.

So if you want to find out what marine biology is, how to get into it, common misconceptions and much more, watch this space :)

Bottlenose dolphins in food competition?

While browsing the internet this cold, rainy morning with my cinnamon tea (got to love Yogi teas) to warm up, I found this article which I thought I would share.

Bottlenose dolphins may be attacking other species over food shortages

Bottlenose dolphins suffering from food shortages may be killing their sibling species to take out the competition, scientists have warned.
A series of dead porpoises and young bottlenose dolphins washed up the country's coastline have borne the animal's teeth marks.
Jan Loveridge, volunteer co-ordinator for Cornwall Wildlife Trust's Marine Strandings Network, said: "Despite their friendly image bottlenose dolphins can be aggressive towards one another and on the rare occasion that we see a dead bottlenose wash ashore it often has rake or tooth marks inflicted by its own species.

"The motives for such attacks are unclear, although scientists have considered that competition for declining food stocks may trigger the behaviour."

Dr Peter Evans, director of Sea Watch Foundation, said the Risso's dolphin may simply have been mistaken for a porpoise.

"Risso's dolphins feed on things like squid and cuttlefish and octopus, which are rarely eaten by bottlenose dolphin, which feed predominantly on fish," he said.

"It was quite possible that it was quite vulnerable because of its size and was mistaken for a porpoise. Young Risso's look a bit like porpoises."

Source

It's one of those articles, that while no doubt highlights a potential dangerous development in our environment, also once again highlights preconceived perceptions of certain animals. If this was a story about sharks, noone would have had to remind anyone that these animals can on occasion be quite aggressive, in fact it is expected of them. Being dolphins though, and bottlenose dolphins like Flipper at that, people are likely to gasp in surprise and exclamations as 'Well I would have nevert thought that possible' are not uncommon.

This is why I thought this article was worthy of mention, it highlights not one but two problems. A potential food shortage is definitely no laughing matter, but neither is the 'disneyfication' of top of the line apex predators. It is important to remember and respect these animals for what they are, powerful animals that will do what they need to survive. We should respect them for what they are, not for what we make them out to be. Bottlenose dolphins did not become one of the most abundant and successful dolphin species for being cute and cuddly. They are very adaptable predators, once referred to as 'rats of the sea' by one of my supervisors for their abundance and ability to adapt to different circumstances effectively. If there is a food shortage and they are competing with the Risso's dolphins for food, they will be a formidable competitor as Flipper will probably be able to hold his own.

Well here I am!

First Blog Entry! A whole new world of hearing myself talk! Anyhow, as stated in the summary, this is going to be mainly about cetaceans as cetaceans and issues surrounding cetacean welfare and conservation are close to my heart, but in case these things merely provoke a yawn from you, fear not, there will probably be a lot of fun randomness as well, expect some weird cat anecdotes courtesy of my insane but supremely lovable mog, Miss Kitty Fantastico, supreme empress of the universe as well as latest travel experiences from my upcoming trip to South Africa, as well as other wildlife related stuff and my latest problems with mastering my camera!

Anyhow, I don't know what the weather is like where you are now but here it is really depressing, especially considering where I spend most of the past year. As mentioned previously, I love to travel in the course of pursuing this passion- as well as trying to polish up my CV- I had the priviledge to spend several months in the lovely- and of course sunny- Sarasota, Florida. It has been several months now since I returned from my internship at the Mote Marine Lab where I had the wonderful opportunity to get to know the resident dolphin population and I am missing all of the dolphins- and of course the people!
Observing and studying dolphins in the wild was an incredible experience. Unpredictable and even tedious at times, imagine following a focal animal just to lose it in perfect conditions 5 minutes before you would have compiled a complete set of data, then finding it but being forced to return because of weather conditions, it does not sound fun but that was the beauty of it as well. Unpredictable, wild dolphins. It is easy to sit in front of a tank where the animal has nowhere to go and watch it go in circles over and over again, maybe jump at the whistle of a trainer or even perform spectacular backflips, but anyone who has seen wild dolphins will agree that you are not seeing the real thing. What show could possibly come close to seeing dolphins systematically herd and take out nearly an entire bait ball, seeing them toss fish high into the air just to snap them up again when they hit the water, seeing groups of upto 20 or 30 animals socialising and breaching out of there own free will, allowing you to watch them before suddenly disappearing, seemingly into nowhere, right before your eyes, this is surely more magical or incredible than any show a delphinarium could devise!