"Teaching people about the world in which we live."

Marine Biologist.
by Dr. Leslie Whitaker

A marine biologist is a person trained to study life in, on, or near the ocean. One of best known marine biologists is Rachel Carson, whose book Silent Spring opened the eyes of the general public to the dangers of industrial pollutants, to the world around us. Carson is actually one of the first ecologists, despite the fact that the Great Depression (1929-1934) prevented her completing her Ph.D. in biology. Before marine biology became so important to the study of ecology, these scientists were trained in math, zoology, and botany. Their primary focus was natural history, or the study of the structural relationships among plants or animals. However, in today’s world, a marine biologist must learn natural history, animal behavior, statistics, cell and molecular biology, as well as economics and political science. The following examples are taken from real people.  They illustrate the diverse occupations that a marine biologist can hold.

Tom is an administrator for the Woods Hole Biological Institute. His job requires that he understand personnel, budgets, and legislation which will affect both the ocean and the communities which make their livings from the oceans. When he began his career, he thought he would be on shipboard, studying deep ocean fishes, but even marine biologists often grow up to be administrators.

Jennifer works aboard ships counting and weighing the catch that United States, Russian, and Japanese fishermen take from the North Atlantic. She must be skillful at both her science of marine biology and her ability to detect deception or crime. Sometimes she is far at sea when she suspects that the fishermen are concealing some of their catch or are falsifying their records. She has to decide what to do to investigate the possible fraud, while minimizing the chances she personally will be "lost at sea."

Jean-Michel is not trained as a scientist, but he was the leader of the largest expedition ever launched to study the great white shark. He coordinated the efforts to obtain funding from Ted Turner (Turner Broadcasting) and other funding sources. He also selected the team members to represent many nations and many disciplines to study and document the habits and the numbers of great whites in the waters off the Southern Australia coast.

Alice teaches marine biology at summer camp in Maine. She spends many hours each day teaching disadvantaged children about the ecology of tide water pools (the area of land between the high and low tide marks). At night she goes to the local library and uses the internet to learn answers to the question the children have asked about biology, ecology, and natural history.