Exploratory Essay

Marine Biology, all in all, is the study of marine organisms and the worlds water forms. 71% of the earth is covered in water which means that the field of marine biology has it’s hands full. With it being such a large field of study there’s a lot to be done by marine biologists, for example, some might be managing wildlife preserves to protect marine life while others could be studying marine fish populations all in order to produce scientific reports that will later on be published. Being a marine biologist is a really cool job because of many things but there are some questions about things some people might not know about. These questions include things like college degree, what is the pay like, what’s the work environment, how does this benefit the world, difficulty, day to day life of the job, etc.  

            Marine biology is a really cool job if you’re into working outside and conservation, but it comes with some challenges. The minimum degree required to become a marine biologist is a bachelor’s degree with courses in biology, chemistry, math, and zoology. A master’s degree is preferred by some employers or even a doctorate in some cases. At the end of all of that schooling a prospective marine biologist could find a possible job at places such as a zoo’s, aquarium’s, a conservation organization, or a government funded research organization where the average biologist makes around $62,000 a year according to BLS.gov. Once a job is acquired the biologist works day in and day out to study marine organisms in their natural habitats. They investigate population, behavior and environment to ensure the health of both the environment and the organisms living in them. Marine biologists spend a good amount of time outdoors doing research. Sometimes they may be working on boats to capture and tag animals to track them or collecting water samples. A big responsibility of a marine biologist is to discover ways that the industrial world effects our marine life. The field of marine biology is a very critical and important field of science for our wellbeing. The ocean supports basic needs of humans in many ways and the ocean is a very profitable resource so having marine biologists to study the trends and health of the ocean is very critical to our well-being.

            One of the all in all biggest questions about marine biology or just any field of science in general is how it benefits the world. National Geographic’s Gary Strauss does an exceptional job making an example for how marine biology benefits the world in his “Saving the Ocean” article documenting a segment of the career of Sylvia Earle. In this article not only does Strauss explain how everything we do, and every breath we take is affected by the ocean, Sylvia Earle explains how every moment of her career is spent exploring and how she wouldn’t change it for the world. It carries on talking about how we’ve only explored 10% of our oceans and with how big of a resource the ocean is we need more marine biologists to further explore our resource. The main topic talked about in this article is “Saving the ocean”, it is stated that in order to save the ocean we need more than just scientists, we need public figures, social media, politicians, etc. In order to move forward and put the message out. In 2006 President Bush created the largest marine sanctuary in the world and 10 years later Obama quadrupled its size. It begins to get more in depth in to Sylvia Earle. Earle is a national geographic explorer In residence and is focused on protecting a global network of areas vital to the health of the planet. She has been at the front of Ocean exploration and conservation for 60 years and has spent 7,000 hours underwater and led over one hundred expeditions.

            A widely talked about subject in the world is the Coral reefs and the health of the coral reefs in the world. Because of the importance of the reefs to the ocean and the ocean to us humans, it is very important that we have people working hard to save the reefs. As of recently there has been a huge push for the concern of the coral reefs. Around the world carbon emissions are causing reefs such as the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest reef to die off. In the writing “Saving Coral Reefs” it explains to us the studies of Makoto Omori, a marine biologist studying the causes for the degradation of coral reefs in Okinawa, Japan. He explains some of the causes for the deterioration of the reefs such as farming and land development, fishing pressure, etc. He also says that things such as predation by starfish assists the dying of the reef. He carries on talking about possible solutions to saving the coral reefs. One solution he suggests is to artificially expand small islands to allow more growth. He explains how nothing BIG can really be done without the right political push to save the reefs because there is no immediate economic benefit to it. The world needs more people willing to put forth effort to save our reefs. The importance of the field of marine biology is magnificent and very much so necessary to us humans and people like Makoto Omori are the ones who will save us.

            In conclusion marine biology is a very much necessary job and without it who knows what the stat of our oceans would be in. I think if you’re looking into a career in marine biology it is a good move. It is a steady job with good pay and benefits and the effect it has on the world is priceless. I would highly suggest marine biology as a career for someone who is into the outdoors and the environment.

Citations:

Fenchel, Tom, and Franz Uiblein. “Saving Coral Reefs – and Applied Marine Biology in Marine Biology Research.” Marine Biology Research, vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2011, pp. 1–2. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=0328a61e-a654-45f3-bb58-5a578d105874%40pdc-v-sessmgr04&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=54302423&db=aph

Strauss, Gary. “Saving the World’s Oceans is This Marine Biologist’s Life Pursuit.” National Geographic. 28 September, 2020. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/09/sylvia-earle-explorer-moments-ocean-conservation/

United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists”, 4 September 2019, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/zoologists-and-wildlife-biologists.htm

Environmental Science, “What is a Marine Biologist?”, https://www.environmentalscience.org/career/marine-biologist

JustScience, “The Importance of Marine Biology”, 11 July, 2017, http://www.justscience.in/articles/importance-marine-biology/2017/07/11