NOAA Teacher at Sea
Kiersten Newtoff
Aboard NOAA Ship Pisces
January 6 – January 29, 2025
Mission: Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS)
Geographic Area of Cruise: North Atlantic Coast
Date: January 22, 2025
Data from the Bridge: N38°12’0″, W74°47’0″. It’s currently 38°F outside — it snowed on deck last night! We have about 24kn of wind but it’s dying down quickly.
Team Spotlight: Marine Mammal Observers
(I was doing cute names previously, but realized it’s probably more important to use the actual job names…)
From Fins to Feet and Back Again
dolphins swimming along the bow of
the Pisces. It’s hard to see, but there is a
striped dolphin mixed in. Credit: Kelsey.
NEFSC permit #27066.
Cetaceans are a group of marine mammals that includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises. There are other groups of marine mammals too such as seals, otters, and manatees, but this cruise is mostly focusing on cetaceans. Upon first look, it’s not a far reach to think that cetaceans are fish, but they are indeed mammals – they are born with fine sensory hairs and they have mammary glands to support their young. I teach evolution in one of my classes and the story of cetaceans is quite fascinating. Life began in the seas as the land was toxic. As algae oxygenated the world, evolution on land became a race. Land was a frontier where no other organism lived, which meant nothing was around to eat you. The land plants dominated and vertebrates like Tiktaalik soon followed. What was once a barren wasteland now supported dinosaurs. Evidence points that the common ancestor of cetaceans were land-based, even-toed ungulates (hooved animals), with hippos being their closest present-day ancestor. As with most questions in science, answering “why” is nearly impossible, but understanding natural selection can get us a good hypothesis about this transition. Some ancestral ungulates probably lived closer to shores and may have even waded into the water to eat fish. Those that just happened to have limbs that made them swim or dive a little bit more than others had access to more food, so they are the ones who survived and reproduced. Add in another 5-10 million years and you have the whales – organisms that can move gracefully through water and have an abundant food source.
Whale art thou?
What the Marine Mammal Observers do is pretty much in their name: they observe marine mammals. On this trip, they are most interested in cetaceans but also record other species of note (sharks, sunfish, seals, etc.). These simple observations have a big impact. We can create models using the data to estimate the distribution and abundance of species. This AMAPPS winter cruise is to better understand distribution at a time of the year that we have limited data. Unfortunately, winter means less than ideal conditions, but some data are better than no data!
While marine mammal surveys can be conducted by small boats and aerial surveys, they are usually limited to close to shore. These trips offshore fill in missing gaps about cetacean abundance and distribution. Of particular note are beaked whales, which can be found in deep water. The number of vessels or land points that are able to confidently spot them is limited. Most of the data that comes from beaked whales are from washed up carcasses. By following transect lines, the Pisces science team can do a wide swath of surveying in the ocean and record a large variety of species with trained observers using big eyes (see picture; really large mounted binoculars) with support from bioacoustics. If the conditions are just right, the science team can also collect a DNA sample from an organism, which can help us determine their sex, subpopulation, trophic level of diet, pregnancy, and more. This is especially important for the Gervais beaked whale because we know very little about them. If on this trip we were to get a visual sighting, an acoustic signature, AND a biopsy of one – we all may just wipe our hands and say we can go home now. No cap. (I think I used that right…)
These species maps are critical in conservation – you can’t really protect the species if you don’t know much about them. By doing these observational studies over long periods of time, we can assess how climate change and habitat availability are impacting the species. In conjunction with the zooplankton team, they help us to understand what’s happening lower in the food chain and changes in these organisms can percolate to the top. These data can help to establish timelines on when it is safe to be drilling or doing construction or shift shipping lanes so that humans have less interactions with marine mammals. Fishing bycatch is a major cause of death in whales, so understanding whale migration patterns, breeding, and wintering grounds can help establish safe fishing zones.
Our data gets used by the Navy, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and NOAA. It’s really important to get it right.
Yin
Let’s Be Real about the Wildlife Biology World
As a warning, this section is not full of rainbows and sunshine. There is a real problem in wildlife biology (whether it’s marine mammals or birds or megafauna) that is really important for folks to know that are trying to get into this field.
When you think about a job, you likely are imagining a job that is generating revenue for a company. Your role is helping the company make money, and they pay you to help them make money. But the conservation world lacks this mechanism. Funds for conservation are limited to grants from other organizations, or funds from the state or federal level so they can meet environmental regulations. While those funds exist, very few are regular – there may be enough money this year to sponsor 5 researchers, but next year maybe for only 2. It’s feast or famine.
Because of this lack of funding, many organizations simply cannot afford to pay for people to complete the work, or they can only supply income for short contracts. If you want to get experience in a wildlife field, you likely will have to volunteer or take unpaid internships. Perhaps you find a paid position, but the working conditions are not compensated appropriately, or you take a ‘volunteer position’ but you have to pay a fee to get involved. And these companies aren’t trying to exploit people, it’s just the unfortunate reality of funding in the conservation world. And let’s be real, the wildlife biology field is fun and there are lots of people who want to volunteer. While that may be a great thing for these organizations, it means the diversity in the workforce is limited to those who have the financial ability to be there. Wildlife biology jobs are also in short supply, so you need a lot of experience or education to be competitive.
There’s not much that we can do about it, but the conversations are starting. It’s important to know what you are getting yourself into, especially when considering where you may go to college and the tuition, as it may be quite a while before you are able to pay off student loans. Keep your prospects open and don’t pigeonhole yourself into one path. Perhaps consider specializing in statistics, as all fields of biology (and just careers in general) have a strong need for statisticians.
Statistics will get you anywhere in the world, in any field.
Sam
Meet the Marine Mammal Observer Team
As a quick note, many folks in environmental fields in the government (like NOAA) are contractors. Contracts can be short term (such as a single cruise) or longer term depending on project goals and needs. You’ll learn about the jobs that the marine mammal team hold when not working with NOAA.
Meet Michelle, who works as a protected species observer for TetraTech (which is also the company my mom worked at for many years!). In this position, she mitigates for potential impacts on protected species and does environmental compliance for the offshore energy industry (wind mostly, but also oil and gas). Her master’s degree focused on Indo-Pacific dolphins in Hong Kong and Taiwan, particularly looking at the impact of boat traffic and construction on their populations. She volunteered for Allied Whale and was a commercial fisheries observer for NOAA.
As an undergrad, Kelsey specialized in marine mammal biology through field courses, internships, and research in Alaska, New Zealand, and Texas. These experiences led to roles as a protected species observer, supporting marine mammal research, industry mitigation, and conservation efforts from land, sea, and air. Her master’s research focused on community-based conservation to reduce human impacts on cetaceans; her ongoing PhD in Australia furthers this by developing acoustic techniques to reduce humpback whale entanglements. She also enjoys sharing her passion for the ocean through environmental education when the opportunity arises!
Coming from the Greater Atlantic Fisheries office is Cheryl, a marine resources management specialist. Having gone to school in central NY, marine mammals weren’t really on her radar. Afterwards she worked for a company in Hawaii narrating whale watches and dolphin tours which jump started her love for marine mammals. From there she did a master’s and Ph.D. with marine mammals. While her position is usually at the office, she is able to take advantage of research cruises to see where the data is coming from to better inform her management work.
Sam has been working with the AMAPPS mission for about 10 years with both observations and data analyses to support reports and scientific papers. He has a Ph.D. in Marine Science and has worked with fish and marine mammals. He also taught at Northern Virginia Community College for five years, which isn’t too far from where I teach!
And last, but certainly not least, is Yin who got started in the NOAA research cruise world after graduate school. Her research focused on how tourism impacts dusky dolphins in New Zealand, as well as describing their acoustic behavior. She had a friend who did Eastern Tropical Pacific cruises with NOAA and recommended that Yin apply for the next one. Yin worked for NOAA for 10 years but is now in a contracting role, which grants her the flexibility for more adventures.
A Day in the Life of a Marine Mammal Observer
Watching for dolphins.
Bad weather, go to the bridge.
We see nothing, sigh.
As I’m putting in the finishing touches on this post, the sea has changed substantially and warrants a new haiku.
Are Those Calm Seas?
Finally, calm sea.
No white caps, slow wind, warm air.
Of course, it’s foggy.
Breaking into the Marine Mammal World
The team shared a lot of different tips for people who are interested in marine mammals.
- When in college, do as much hands-on work, volunteering, and internships as you can.
- Meet and network at the Marine Mammalogy Conference. Their website also has a lot of great resources for students who want to get started in the marine mammal world. The Cascadia Research Collective has good advice too.
- Develop as many additional skills as you can: statistics, GIS, math, invertebrates, oceanography, small engines, soldering, coding, and photography all are helpful.
- Positions exist at the bachelor’s level, but you likely will need at least a master’s, if not a Ph.D. because of how competitive the field is getting. More education may also lead to more networking opportunities.
- It’s a small world, meaning everyone talks to everyone. Your work ethic will get out there.
- Try many things in the marine world, not just marine mammals. You will gain a lot of experience that is transferrable to the marine mammal world.
- Similarly, if this path is daunting, you can work other positions on the ship (see my other blogs for highlights!) that gets you involved with the science.
- And finally….
It’s really important to be kind.
Yin
