Six Inspirational Women Protecting Marine Life and Oceans
By Rosemary Ellis
Today, on International Women’s Day, the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) celebrates women and all of the female scientists, advocates and supporters who have dedicated their lives to protecting marine life. Below are a few (of many!) champions of marine life who have also paved the way for generations of women.
Read about IMMP’s Philippines’ office Director, Trixie Concepcion.
Read about our Earth Island General Counsel, Sumona Majumdar.
Dr. Deborah Giles, who goes by simply Giles, is one of the world’s leading experts on Southern Resident orcas. A trip to the San Juan Islands for her 18th birthday led to her dedicating her life to protecting them. And that she certainly continues to do. Giles monitors the endangered whales’ health by non-invasively collecting fecal samples. How does she collect these? She puts her highly-trained scent detection dog, Eba, to work to find the fecal samples in the Salish Sea waters up to a nautical mile away! With only 73 Southern Resident’s remaining, Giles and her team can learn a lot about the whales from their fecal samples, such as stress levels, pregnancy hormones, nutritional health, and the presence of pollutants in their food chain.
Her impact reaches far beyond the data she collects. Giles collaborates with other researchers to better understand the effects of overfishing, pollution and noise on whales. She also advocates for their protection in hearings and public meetings. Not to mention, Giles is educating future generations of marine mammal biologists and inspiring many to protect whales and dolphins around the world.
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Kristal Ambrose is a youth educator and marine plastic pollution researcher. Kristal sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 2012, and after studying the Western Garbage Patch (part of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world that is twice the size of Texas), Kristal sprang into action. Upon returning home to the Bahamas, Kristal founded the Bahamas Plastic Movement, a youth-led initiative that gives voice to and educates the next generation of leaders. In response to Bahamas Plastic Movement, the Bahamian government banned all single-use plastics! Single-use plastics are not only wasteful, accounting for one-third of all plastic, they are extremely detrimental to marine mammals. Kristal’s dedication and accomplishments are truly inspirational!
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Dr. Lori Marino is one of the founders and President of The Whale Sanctuary Project. Her work as a neuroscientist and expert in animal behavior and intelligence led her to co-author a ground-breaking study on how bottlenose dolphins show self-recognition in mirrors. The findings, which indicated self-awareness in dolphins, add to a long list of reasons why it is ethically unacceptable for dolphins to be captive and confined in tiny concrete tanks.
Once finished, the Whale Sanctuary, located at Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, will be the first of its kind in North America. It will provide a seaside home for orcas and beluga whales who have been retired from the entertainment industry. Injured and stranded cetaceans can also be housed in the sanctuary. After finalizing the location and securing a very large grant for constructing the sanctuary, Dr. Lori Marino has made tremendous progress towards making the goal of a better, more natural and stimulating life for retired captive and stranded cetaceans a reality!
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Dr. Asha de Vos is a marine biologist, educator, National Geographic Explorer and advocate from Sri Lanka. She broke ground by being the first and only Sri Lankan to receive a PhD in marine mammal research. Her fieldwork led to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) recognizing the Sri Lankan blue whale as a species that requires conservation, and now the IWC collaborates with the Sri Lankan government addressing whale ship strikes. She co-founded Oceanswell, Sri Lanka’s first marine research and education organization. Through Oceanswell, Dr. Asha de Vos mentors the next generation of researchers, many of which are from underrepresented nations.
Dr. Asha de Vos also advocates for gender equality. She stated, “Strive not to be defined by your gender, but by your capacity” and in 2019, she received an award honoring her as one of 12 Women Changemakers by the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
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A fierce advocate for marine mammals, Dr. Naomi Rose has devoted her career to protecting marine mammals around the world. One of her primary campaigns is ending the captive display of marine mammals. She’s worked on four rehabilitation and release projects for cetaceans. The most notable involved Keiko, the killer whale made famous by the hit film Free Willy.
Now, she is the marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute, where she continues to campaign on issues addressing whale and dolphin captivity. While public attitudes in the United States are shifting to oppose marine mammal captivity, marine mammal entertainment is a growing industry in other parts of the world. As such, Rose travels the world to give presentations about why marine mammals should not be kept in captivity and used in performances. She also is Co-Founder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Whale Sanctuary Project, which is creating a seaside sanctuary for orcas and belugas. Her doctoral dissertation examined the strong, rich social dynamics of free-ranging orcas – which are destroyed by confining orcas in tanks.
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Dr. Ingrid Visser, is a marine biologist conducting field research on orcas and other marine mammals found in New Zealand. Her findings were instrumental in convincing the New Zealand government to designate its orcas as “nationally critical”. She has published numerous scientific papers on the species and its interactions with the marine environment.
Ingrid founded the Orca Research Trust to support her path-breaking work on orcas. She is also a strong advocate against keeping orcas and other cetaceans in captivity, speaking around the world as an expert witness.