Oceans Initiative Impact Report 2022

by Dr. Erin Ashe, Executive Director and ScientistConservationPosted on No Comments

View 2022 Impact Report PDF

Oceans Initiative is delighted to share our 2022 Impact Report. We are so proud of what our team of scientists and biologists were able to accomplish last year, and grateful for our dedicated pod of friends and supporters who believe in our mission, who care deeply about the marine life we aim to protect, and who inspire us with their remarkable generosity.

With your support, Oceans Initiative continues to provide trustworthy science to guide real-world conservation decisions. Working with colleagues in all levels of government, corporate and nonprofit partners, and indigenous co-managers, we have made measurable progress toward preventing extinctions, safeguarding marine biodiversity, and protecting wild places—locally, regionally, and internationally. We are thrilled with the conservation successes you’ll read about in our Impact Report.

Whether we’re working to prevent the extinction of southern resident killer whales, reduce ship noise for a quieter ocean, decrease bycatch of dolphins in fishing gear, protect endangered salmon, or build resilience of wild species and habitats to buffer the looming effects of climate change, we’re more devoted than ever to preserve marine life and the ecosystems on which they depend.

Thank you for supporting our efforts to keep our oceans clean, quiet, and full of life. With your support, we are hopeful that we can celebrate even more conservation wins for the rest of 2023, into 2024, and beyond.

A Year of Impact, Resilience and Joy

by Dr. Erin Ashe, Executive Director and ScientistConservation, Ecosystems, In the NewsPosted on Comments are Disabled
View 2021 Impact Report

This year, we were reminded that the changing planet will affect us all. As flood waters threatened his new home in British Columbia just months after nearly losing his home to fire in California, writer Malcolm Johnson remarked, “It’s also hard to believe that when we moved back to BC from California, not long after almost losing our home to an out-of-season wildfire, we thought we were moving away from climate disasters. But the truth is that there’s no away.”

There is no away for wildlife that have evolved over millennia to occupy particular habitats and ecological niches. In fact, it is precisely this variety of unique ecological roles that captivates us as scientists, inspires awe, and drives us to learn more. The things that make animals special and bring us into their world can be the very things that make them vulnerable.

Among the extraordinary animals we at Oceans Initiative study in order to protect: walrus and belugas that rely on icy habitats; river dolphins, nearly blind, using sound to swim through submerged forests in the Amazon River; and of course, killer whales evolving particular ways to make a living in the sea, with populations specializing on prey ranging from herring to salmon to stingrays and sharks.

For these animals, there is no away. They cannot occupy new habitats if we degrade or destroy the critical habitats they have occupied for millennia. After evolving cultural traditions (and anatomical adaptations) to hunt specific prey items, orcas cannot switch from eating salmon to jellyfish, just because we’ve destroyed their prey base.

But what about us? Human evolution is taking place over millions of years, but humans are rare in that our cultural and technological evolution can also take place in the blink of an eye. We can change our behavior, so the onus is on us to fix the environmental problems we have caused, collectively.

How do we make real change? How is change born? After such a rough few years, do we still have the capacity to change? I hope so, because countless lives depend on our ability to change. Change can feel overwhelming, because it is. When faced with complex challenges, it can be alluring to just keep “admiring the problem” as former President Obama said, and do nothing. We find there is power and joy in creating change together.

Human ingenuity and creativity allow us to take large problems, and break them down into smaller solutions quickly. But sometimes the enormity of what has been lost, and the changes we will see in an ever-warming climate, can seem too much to bear. So we need to build resilience to stay on the path together.

One way we do this is to look for joy in our work. We find joy in the beautiful animals we study and the magic of this planet. We see joy in the teams and partnerships we build and the inspiring people we meet. And, when we reflect on our unique place in this world, and see that our strengths and gifts are needed, we can take a small step and then another on a joyful journey toward healing the world.

Oceans Initiative is committed to this joyful journey to build resilience and make change in the world. We hope you will join us.

Minding the Data Gap Trap

by Dr. Erin Ashe, Executive Director and ScientistConservation, DolphinsPosted on Comments are Disabled

Exploring Dynamics of Abundant Dolphin Populations Under Uncertainty

Our co-founder Dr. Erin Ashe’s latest publication, Minding the Data-gap Trap, has been published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Yes, we must focus on endangered species, but we mustn’t lose sight of the apparently common species that are under the radar. We risk losing those species through neglect and apathy. Biodiversity conservation needs to protect the abundant species that hold ecosystems together, and also the rare species we can’t afford to lose. Turns out, you can use what you know about basic life-history of data-poor species, and the threats they face, to prioritize species for research funding and management actions.

This interdisciplinary paper was published with colleagues from IUCN, Curtin University, Cornell University Cornell Lab of Ornithology, University of St Andrews, Arizona State University, Brookfield Zoo, and Smithsonian.

Supporting women in marine mammal science

by Dr. Erin Ashe, Executive Director and ScientistWomen in SciencePosted on No Comments
Photo credit: Aaron Henry

While on the surface, our field may look like more fun than science, marine mammal science is a STEM discipline that requires years of experience and education to land and develop a career. Like other STEM fields, women continue to be underrepresented in senior career positions in the field of marine mammal science and conservation.  Our STEM discipline has many hurdles that make it difficult for underrepresented people to access. In marine mammal science there is an observed “leaky pipe” phenomenon, in which the representation of women in early career positions is lost at the leadership level.  Our discipline can involve a lot of fieldwork, representing time away from responsibilities at home. This is a cost that is unevenly available to marine mammal scientists of different socio-economic backgrounds. In addition, paid opportunities for well-educated individuals in marine mammal science are rare and competitive; opportunities are available only to those that can afford to gain the necessary experience to enter the field. It is not uncommon for young scientists in our field to take on multiple unpaid internships before gaining enough experience to get a full time position, even with a Bachelor’s degree.

Laurel Yruretagoyena, Biologist (left) capturing photographs of Pacific white-sided dolphin dorsal fins in 2018 under the mentorship of Dr Erin Ashe (right) for her long-term work on this population.
Photo credit: Laura Bogaard

Oceans Initiative aims to provide women in marine mammal science the tools and resources necessary to support them as they conduct cutting-edge conservation research. We work to help women develop and become trained to use new technology. We also support them in communicating their findings in peer-reviewed publications, speaking engagements, and meeting with policy-makers. Many of our peers report changing careers or leaving academia because they sense competition, not collegiality in their workplace, and because their contributions are not being seen or lauded. We aim to elevate women by supporting our employees and fostering a sense of community and teamwork, not competition.

Oceans Initiative prioritizes hiring early career female scientists for paid positions to provide mentorship and to advance their skills. We hosted a Women in Marine Mammal Science Workshop at our professional society’s international conference in October 2017 and conducted a survey about gender equality in our field, to which over 600 members of the society responded. We have been working with a team of 6 female scientists to analyze the survey data and distribute our findings to a broader scientific audience in order to address the issue of inequality in our field.

Natalie Mastick, Graduate Fellow in Marine Parasite Ecology (left) and Laura Bogaard, Research Assistant (right) deploying a C-POD off San Juan Island during our study of Southern Resident killer whales in 2017.
Photo credit: Aaron Henry

To continue our efforts to promote women and equality, Oceans Initiative will be hosting additional workshops to provide female scientists with tools to further their careers. Currently we are organizing a workshop in partnership with Alimosphere to teach female early-career scientists how to pilot unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) for marine mammal science. We are also developing online tools to reach a broader audience of women and help them gain necessary experience in other research skills, like communicating with stakeholders and managers, publishing, statistics, and using our toolkits for their own research.

Learn more about the Oceans Initiative team.