Devex jobs: Career advice from a marine biologist

In the context of climate change, the work of marine biologists is incredibly valuable, said Jessica Hodge, the marine research coordinator for the Maldives Underwater Initiative by Six Senses Laamu. Marine biologists study marine life, organisms, and habitats, which are increasingly under threat amid climate change. During 2016 in the Maldives, a mass bleaching event — which can occur when rising sea temperatures cause corals to excrete algae that turns them white — damaged more than 60% of the country’s coral reefs, which is home to a variety of species. “Without coral reefs, there's nothing to prevent the waves coming in from the ocean. And it's not necessarily always about protecting the animals … but it's also about protecting people's livelihoods and making a difference to the wider community as well,” Hodge said. Fishing and tourism, much of which is water-based, are top employment sectors in the country yet rising sea levels and floods from coastal storms are other climate impacts the Maldives faces. MUI, which is housed inside the Six Senses resort in Laamu Atoll, conducts research on the coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and mangrove forests in the area as well as the species inhabiting them, and works to influence conservation efforts within the Maldives’ tourism industry. It also educates local school children and tourists on the importance of protecting oceans from the environmental threats they face. Speaking to Devex, Hodge explained what her role as an MUI marine biologist in the Maldives looks like, the impact it has, and the kind of profile a person would need to have to pursue a similar role. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. How did you end up in this type of work? I did my undergraduate degree in biology at the University of Leeds and then followed up with a master's degree in ecology, evolution, and conservation at Imperial College London. I've always been drawn to marine biology, but I kept my education broad because, from a very young age, you're told that no one really gets a job as a marine biologist, or that very few do. I did a year in agriculture and then decided that I was going to take a chance and try to pursue marine conservation. After my master's course, I managed to find a volunteering position in the Seychelles, where I was working on Fregate Island, which is a conservation-based resort. They have a conservation team there that does both terrestrial projects and also marine projects. From there, my manager was kind enough … to send me the job application [for my current position] ... I've now been here eight months. What does your day to day look like? It can be very varied, but if I take my average day, it would probably involve some kind of guest activity. That may be a snorkel or guiding a presentation, educating guests. Along with guest activities, it would probably be getting in the water to do some kind of research project. At the moment, we're doing seagrass surveys and we've just finished doing our coral reproduction studies. We're doing night dives at the moment so I'm also on a night dive every night, and then, amongst that is all the admin, unfortunately, that's involved; writing of reports and updates on presentations and collaborating with other researchers. Of course, [being based in the Maldives] is amazing. It has so many perks. One of them is living within 50 meters from the coral reef, which I can't get enough of, but it also does come with challenges. You’re living in a relatively remote location in a small community. What do you see as being the impact of your work? I'm lucky to work in a role where … you can see the impact it's having, which I think is rare. For instance, we've been collecting data on coral reproduction. In March, we essentially did a method of larvae restoration, which is raising these little coral larvae, which we then can release onto the reef once they're mature. We're helping them in the stage of life where lots of them, unfortunately, would die, so helping nature do its own thing, but protecting them whilst they're doing it. We've currently got about 850 of these baby corals in our lab, and we've released around 21,000 larvae onto the reef. You can actually see these baby corals growing up in a secure environment, and we're going to plant them back out onto the reef. That's a measurable impact. You can actually see the ecosystems thriving due to these changes. I'm also very lucky to work in a team that has lots of different NGOs who are working on their own separate projects. We have the Blue Marine Foundation, which currently has an exciting project developing the Maldives’ first community conservation area. This CCA is because of the work they've done to help allocate where marine protected areas are located. Their research will feed into the development of a monitoring protocol and that's to help this area be sustainably fished and looked after into the future. What skill sets have you found to be most valuable? I would have to say one thing is definitely adaptability. You can have the best plan in the world, but unfortunately — especially when you're working somewhere relatively remote and you can't get half the equipment that would make that plan perfect — you have to make do and come up with fairly innovative solutions, using scraps of something that you find lying around, trying to make scientific equipment out of wooden sticks and coconut coil rope. Also communication; I think people are beginning to learn that there's no point doing the best scientific research if you aren't able to communicate it to the wider community. That's a really big part of what we do here. What kind of person is well-suited to do this job? You have to have a fairly positive outlook, and obviously being hardworking is a very important element. The common traits of the team here are seeing the positives in life and being able to boost each other up. It's never a direct competition so I think being able to work well in a team and to adapt to problems is probably what makes someone well-suited to this. What advice would you have for other professionals looking to work in this type of role? One thing that's important to highlight is that no one has the same route into this field. You also don't have to listen to the people that say that ‘no one really gets jobs in marine biology,’ because people definitely do. It's about knowing where to look and understanding where the funding opportunities are. If you go through academia, then pursue a Ph.D. through a funded course that’s great, but also there is this great opportunity with resorts now where tourists care about sustainable resorts and about conservation. Looking at that as an opportunity, is one piece of advice. It also depends on essentially where you would be interested in doing conservation. If conservation is something that you're interested in pursuing in your home country, then of course a degree is beneficial, but it doesn't have to be. So many of my Maldivian colleagues don't have a degree, but have much more knowledge of the reefs that they've been diving or snorkeling on for much longer than we have. That's as valuable as a degree. Editor's note: The reporter traveled to the Maldives with the support of Six Senses Laamu. Devex retains full editorial independence and responsibility for this content.