What do you do at NOAA Fisheries?
I am the Regional Marine Wildlife Response Coordinator for the NOAA Fisheries Pacific Islands Regional Office.
My role is to coordinate response to stranded marine mammals in the Pacific Islands region, including in the territories. How we have it structured here in Hawaiʻi is that we have island-specific coordinators on Maui, Hawaiʻi Island, and Oʻahu. I work as a coordinator not just for marine mammals, but also for my colleagues. I help make sure that they have what they need to do their jobs and that our response in the Hawaiian Islands as well as the U.S. territories is coordinated and supported.
A response to a marine mammal might range from working with our great teams and partners to setting up perimeters around resting monk seals. And doing outreach and education for the public so they understand what’s going on and what they’re seeing on the beach. Or, we might work collaboratively with the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center and our partners to engage in a hands-on response if a marine mammal is in need of assistance.
In the territories, we are working to continue and expand partnerships in these areas to do similar things. We have fewer strandings in the territories, but we want to make sure that we can respond as best as possible to any dolphin or whale that might strand.
One of the amazing aspects of my job is the great team I work with. I love how we are working together to support each other and it is a great feeling to work with those colleagues, both here and with our external partners. We are lucky to have such a dedicated team of people here in the Pacific Islands region who share the same goals of conservation and recovery of protected species.
How did you get interested in marine mammals?
I’ve loved marine mammals and the ocean from before I can even remember. My mom had me learning to swim before I could walk, and as soon as I was old enough, I was volunteering at aquariums. For example, when I was younger, I lived for a period of time in the Chicago area. I spent a lot of time volunteering at the Shedd Aquarium, where they have all kinds of great marine wildlife care, conservation, and education programs. I did everything from preparing fish for the marine mammals there to helping with summer education programs for young people. When I lived in California, I spent every chance I had viewing marine mammals in the wild, swimming in the ocean, and doing beach cleanups!
From there, I studied marine biology at the University of Miami in Florida. I had the opportunity to gain exposure to the research side of marine science, both through regular coursework, which included snorkeling trips in the Florida Keys, and extra work volunteering in the lab of one of the University’s top shark researchers. It’s been a lifelong passion and I just feel so lucky that I have been able to pursue a career in something I have loved my whole life.
When you initially envisioned working with marine mammals, is this the career you envisioned?
As a young person, I wasn’t initially aware of all the career opportunities that are available in the marine wildlife field. So growing up I always thought that the only career path was to work at a zoo or aquarium as a marine mammal trainer.
But as I went to school and started working, I started to learn more about all the different opportunities there are in the marine mammal and marine science world. It’s cool because there’s something for everyone, no matter where your skill set is or where your particular interests lie. For example, you could do education, you could do policy, or you could do hands-on work to make a contribution to marine conservation.
What is your favorite marine mammal and why?
Although it’s a bit common or stereotypical, my favorite marine mammal is the bottlenose dolphin. The joy and the personality that they bring every time you see them just makes you happy. When living in California, sometimes I would just go sit on the beach and watch them swim by, playing and surfing in the waves. And ever since I moved to Hawaiʻi, Hawaiian spinner dolphins have been high on the list for me, too. The aerial displays they do are amazing.
What is an experience that helped prepare you for your current role?
The Marine Mammal Center is a nonprofit that does marine mammal rescue, rehabilitation, and research in California. Prior to joining this office, I worked there for 4 years. I managed a triage hospital where I led a team in responding to, rescuing, and caring for a variety of stranded marine mammals (and sometimes sea turtles!). It was such a great experience because I had hundreds and hundreds of hands-on hours in almost every kind of marine wildlife response you can imagine. That includes taking calls from the public about stranded marine mammals and engaging with people on the phone directly, to going out myself to see if the stranded animals needed assistance or if they were best left alone. And I also conducted rescues and provided medical care for the marine mammal patients that needed it at the hospital. And beyond that, I helped with a very active education and outreach program in the community.
Now I am in a role looking at the bigger picture of stranding response. It helps so much to have the understanding of what goes into each aspect of marine wildlife response since I did all of those activities personally. Having that first-hand knowledge helps me to really be able to understand the work of our teams and partners—and empathize with the challenges they face—and hopefully to support and help organize our work in a way that works well for all of us.
Original source can be found here.
