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