Women have been part of the National Marine Sanctuary System since its inception, but they, like many in prior generations, have to deal with obstacles to their educational and professional goals. Family and caregiving responsibilities cause many women to leave science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational programs and professions, a phenomenon called the “leaky pipeline.” Women also leave STEM fields because of impediments to career advancement and being paid a fraction of the salary male colleagues receive for the same job responsibilities.
Many organizations are undertaking efforts to better understand and address the leaky pipeline and associated issues. We are trying to do our part as well, regularly hosting interns through NOAA scholarship and internship programs, including those with Minority Serving Institutions. We also oversee the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program, geared toward women and minorities and funded each year by 1% of our appropriation, that supports talented graduate students in conducting research, finishing their educations, and beginning their professional journeys in marine science and stewardship.
Several women in conservation over the past century have paved the way for the present generation of conservation leaders here at NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. One of our early directors, Dr. Nancy Foster (from 1983 to 1986), laid the foundation for many facets of sanctuary culture. Today, the women who lead many important projects and programs throughout the National Marine Sanctuary System are mentors to undergraduates, interns, master’s students, and PhD candidates, who are starting to make waves in marine and environmental conservation. In honor of Women’s History Month, we’ve highlighted a few examples that show how elevating women in leadership roles in conservation creates a ripple effect throughout the field.
For the Birds
The great shearwater is one of more than 30 species of seabirds that can be found in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Photo: Peter Flood
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fashionable women wore elaborate hats decorated with feathers from birds like egrets and herons, even sometimes, outlandishly, with entire dead birds. In 1896, Harriet Hemenway, a Boston socialite, read a magazine article that explicitly described the horrors of the feather trade. Appalled by what she’d read, Hemenway enlisted her cousin, Minna Hall, and together they recruited the women of Boston to stop wearing hats with bird plumage to help bring a halt to the practice. They were so successful that they paved the way for the creation of the National Audubon Society and legislation protecting migratory birds, waterfowl, and seabirds.
Present
For Grace Bottitta-Williamson, becoming the national recreation and tourism coordinator was a dream come true, the chance to forge stronger relationships with those who enjoy the waters of sanctuaries to surf, dive, fish, and paddle. But Grace is a former bird and wetland biologist, and an avid, life-long bird watcher who particularly welcomes the chance to recruit more people into seeking out, studying, and sharing the feathered denizens of sanctuaries, who sometimes play second fiddle to more charismatic animals like seals and whales. “Many sanctuaries are along critical bird migration routes so we’ve got songbirds, birds of prey, waterfowl, shorebirds, and seabirds who fly great distances to find food for hungry chicks back in the nest, all of them in sanctuaries, just waiting to be discovered,” Grace says. “And I’m proud to do the job I do so my daughters and all the members of future generations can enjoy them as much as I do.”
Future
Foster Scholar Dr. Anna Robuck, who recently finished her degree at the University of Rhode Island, also finds professional satisfaction devoting her research to seabirds. Her doctoral work looked at the connection between the diet of the great shearwater (migratory birds that enjoy the bounty of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary and surrounding areas) and emerging contaminants in Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Some of her research indicates that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and new contaminants like PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are present in the tissue samples taken from shearwaters, and therefore persist in the ecosystem, even though DDT was banned almost 50 years ago. Research like Anna’s allows managers to make more informed decisions about protecting the wildlife and habitats of the sanctuary.
Original source can be found here.
