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This week I feel extremely grateful to sit down with Kristin Hoel, a project manager in the East Coast Whale Entanglement Mitigation Program for Ocean Watch Australia AND one of my closest friends. Kristin works to balance both fishers livelihoods and humpback whale conservation outcomes, describing the constant jigsaw puzzle of human-wildlife conflicts.

She shares with us about her work with a cohort of fishers to advance sustainable fishing gear and the unique opportunities for Australian commercial fishers. We discuss a range of topics regarding her work including the bias that fishers face, working with whale conservationists, fishery certification schemes, and stakeholder engagement.

In the second half of the episode we shift towards Kristin herself and her journey to her present role that she values deeply. She reflects on switching from pre-med to marine biology (in Wisconsin), roadtripping around the USA to figure out why she couldn’t land an internship, her experience in Australia during COVID at James Cook University, and now working as a marine biologist. I really loved our discussion on dealing with burnout and balancing life and purpose-driven career towards the end of this episode.

RESOURCES:

Seaspiracy critique
Marine Stewardship Council Certification

Connect with Kristin:
@ofwildseas

HIGHLIGHTS:

6:48 - How the growing humpback whale population poses challenges for the set gear fishing industries

13:27 - “They are on the water every day, they are the ones who are out there way more frequently than researchers, whale watching boats, a lot of conservationists.”

18:44 - “Finding these ways to facilitate conservations with them because at the end of the day they dont want to be entangling whales just as much as anyone else doesnt want to see an entangled whale

23:28 - The differing issue between fisheries and humpback whale entanglement in Australia versus in the North American lobster fishery and right whales

30:00 - What are some of the good and bad aspects of fishery certification schemes?

37:24 - We’re really promoting whale conservation but at the same time we’re also promoting conserving these fisheries and trying to say okay well what are ways that we can look towards coexistence”

38:10 - “I really value having like good conversations and discussions with people who dont necessarily agree with me.

41:00 how Kristin got her start in marine biology

46:28 “we’re in a terrible time in our history that people just dont get back to you if they dont want you”

58:30 “Wow…I think i’ver really found what excited me in this field”

1:05:38 “How do you stay grounded, how do oyu prevent burn out, what boundaries have you learned from your work?”

1:12:20 “What are you most proud of from the work you’ve done over the last few years?”

?? “I’m really proud of recognizing when I was so burnout that I needed to quit my job, even though I was two months away from my contract… No job is worth your mental health. At the end of the day you don’t really owe them your soul.”

1:21:38 - Rapid Fire Questions

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Dr. Asia Haines fondly calls manta rays "the gateway drug to marine conservation." Have you ever wanted to know why manta rays aggregate in large numbers in places like the Maldives? Why they are so big? What they feed on? And did you know there’s a pink manta ray?!

This week's dive into the marine world interviews Dr. Asia Haines for a peek into the lives of the manta rays along the east coast of Australia. Studying these charismatic megafauna for over a decade, Asia has focused her research on their spatial ecology and movement patterns. She is a research fellow for Project Manta, based out of the University of the Sunshine Coast, as well as for Leaf to Reef - a research group focused on the biodiversity of Lady Elliot Island on the Great Barrier Reef. The island I use to work on is known as "the home of the manta ray." Her research contributions are critical to the Important Shark and Ray Area project for the International Union of Conservation's (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group.

Get in touch with Dr. Asia Haines below:
Research profile
Project Manta
Upload your manta ray pictures (Australia only)
Leaf to Reef

_________________________________________________________________________________________
6:40 - Who is Leaf to Reef and why are they studying Lady Elliot Island?

9:10 - The truth about the pink manta ray

11:30 - The evolution of manta rays

> Dr. Misty Page-Tran article on filter feeding of manta rays

18:00 - Some of manta rays biggest threats

28:00 - Did a manta ray kill Steve Irwin?

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If there’s any scientific focus right now that feels like a constant uphill battle, it's climate change. But for dive instructor and social scientist Dr. Yolanda Lee Waters, she saw an opportunity to investigate how we can inspire climate action with the deep connection that people already have with the Great Barrier Reef. Since completing her PhD, she is now focused on communicating her research with the tourism industry, government stakeholders, and the public. This led her to found her own non-profit Divers for Climate, as a way to alleviate her own climate anxiety, and collaborate with other divers and ocean-lovers to push for collective action on climate change. A leading voice on climate action in the Great Barrier Reef, Yolanda shares her stories, lessons, and aspirations with this work on local, national, and global levels.

Cover Photo by the Undertow Media

Connect with Yolanda:

https://yolandaleewaters.wixsite.com/yolanda-lee-waters

https://www.diversforclimate.com/
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Episode Highlights:

6:47 “We have just witnessed the 5th mass bleaching event on the GBR in 8 years…how are you feeling?”

23:14 Yolanda’s journey to the reef, scuba diving, and her PhD work

37:14 The creation of Yolanda’s own climate action group: Divers for Climate

49:36 “Do you think there was a huge contrast between what youve started to created with divers for climate versus whats going on on the global policy level?”

57:05: “Whats it like being a woman, being young, being not white…when you go into those places where you feel like an imposter? How does that affect you?”

1:08:30 Sharing experiences out on the reef!

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Links and Resources:

Outlook Report: https://outlookreport.gbrmpa.gov.au/

Reef Snapshot: https://elibrary.gbrmpa.gov.au/jspui/handle/11017/4043

Guardian article: https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/23/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching-tourism-impact

Climate action groups: https://www.cana.net.au/

Girls that Scuba video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT_-r7SFe3Y

The Undertow Media: https://www.theundertow.com.au/

Black in Marine Science: https://www.blackinmarinescience.org/

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How do you find the intersection between storytelling and beautiful imagery while supporting yourself ($$) and the Earth? Arisa Yoon sits down to share with us her path from her environmental science degree to brand photographer and creative director. With an ethos of

“empowering others to care about the planet and themselves,” Arisa aims to create branding strategies that foster a deeper connection to our planet. Though she was not immediately successful, she shares how she stayed focused and driven to create what is now her current reality. Even when our work may not feel directly connected with environmental work, Arisa shares her tips and reminds us how to stay grounded in whatever we define as our own path of success.

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EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[9:33] “I remember taking my first underwater breath and feeling this sense of peace and tranquility that I had never experienced in my life...I was just addicted from that moment” - AY

[12:14] “I am much more someone who likes to take action and build community and raise awareness and do more of the public awareness and outreach…” - AY

[17:26] “You start to feel the weight of our planet and our climate and it’s current poistion and I think I always knew I wanted to be part of that storytelling” - AY

[20:36] “These renegade routes aren’t always profitable when you first start…how did you balance working on those skills and also being able to financially support yourself?” - AS

[24:02] “You want to be able to do what you love right? you want to be able to be the person who wakes up everyday and is ‘living their best life’ and doing what they’re passionate about. But thats not always reality, and I think we also have to create a better balance…between doing what we love but also supporting ourselves. ” - AY

[29:12] When I first started out, more so in content creation, I was realizing how wasteful al lot of it is…as I’ve been able to be a little bit more just particular about who I work with…I really do try to ingrain trying to be as mindful as possible” - AY

[32:11] “If you can’t envision the life that you want and the career that you want, how are you ever going to get there?” - AY

[38:39] “there definitely became a time where I started to realize that I was devoting a little too much time and I had begun to see the effects that SM had on the way that I lived and saw my life…” -AY

[50:45] “You have to get real with yourself about what success actually looks like to you…and how it will always evolve” -AY

[53:38] “Celebrating our successes even if the’yre small or if they dont seem like they’re success, is really just allowing ourselves to be present and thankful ourselves for the mind and body that we have in this moment.” - AY

[1:09:00] Rapid Fire Questions

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On this episode we share the knowledge and work of Dr. Simon Foale, a marine scientist and anthropology professor at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia. Growing up in the Solomon Islands, he always had a love of the ocean, but it was only when he recognized the importance of traditional ecological knowledge that he started wandering into the anthropology realm. We discuss capitalism, neoliberalism, inequality, and the roots of the environmental, social, and political issues we currently face. We love stirring the pot!

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
[13:40] “Marine science is one of the precarious career paths…you’re definitely not guaranteed a job.” - SF
[29:51] “That is how these people con the rest of society…through tax evasion” - SF
[32:19] “The state is essentially an organization that represents the people and its job is to redistribute collective wealth into service” - SF
[39:53] How do we have better nuanced conversations and sharing more complicated ideas without alienating people? - AS
[47:07] “My criticism has always been about the ways in which conservationists operating across big economic and cultural boundaries, working with very poor people, have been insensitive to poverty and ignorant about culture.” - SF
[50:48] “The problem is that a lot of grassroots conservationists, even if they understand that stuff, they’re still working in a machine, right? They’re still working in a system, the agenda of which is dictated by some rich guy…so the NGO world is intrinsically tricky to work in.” - SF
[55:52] “I’m a product of the 500 years of colonial history just as much as the villagers that i’m working with are a product, they just got the worse end of the deal.” - SF
[58:39] “The Europeans have extracted a lot of wealth from the Global South, the global economic periphery, and that has enriched them to a ridiculous extent. And now they think that’s normal…” -SF
[1:06:15] Rapid Fire Questions
_______________________________

RESOURCES MENTIONED:
This Changes Everything: Capitalism versus the Climate - Naomi Klein
Words of the Lagoon - Bob Johannes
Jason Hickel
***Gapminder on UNDP data
***Wealth Shown to Scale
Hickel Nature paper
Limits of Growth (1972)
UNDP Human Development Index
Harry Truman inaugural address
Nicholas Shaxson’s Treasure Island
Gillian Tett

Find Simon and his work:
https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/simon.foale
https://www.academia.edu/840517/Wheres_our_development

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It’s our final week of a month of refusing single-use plastic and decreasing our reliance on plastics ! Thank you all so much for participating, and I hope you all come back to these episodes whenever you want to take on a challenge to reduce your reliance on plastic.

This week we try to Strengthen our Voice: that means educating ourselves about the issue we are trying to combat. This means finding a topic that interests you, and just spending some time this week educating yourself about the different options are available to you, or how other people may be disproportionately affected by plastic waste. Or maybe you start to participate or volunteer with organizations working to petition for plastic reduction.

Our guest this week is the phenomenal Dr. Marina Santana. Microplastics may be a term you’ve heard, but dont know much about. Marina has been investigating how these tiny plastic particles are affecting the ocean environment, and we discuss why they should be on our radar.
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RESOURCES

Officeworks recycling

Staples recycling

Chile Fast Fashion Desert

Dr. Santana publications:

• Dawson, A.L.; Santana, M. F. M.; Motti. 2023. Taking control of microplastics data: A comparison of control and blank data correction methods. Journal of Hazardous Materials.
• Gulizia, A.M.; Brodie, E.; Daumuller, R.; Bloom, S.B.; Corbett, T.; Santana, M.F.M.; Motti, C.; Vamvounis, G. 2022. Evaluating the Effect of Chemical Digestion Treatments on Polystyrene Microplastics: Recommended Updates to Chemical Digestion Protocols. Macromolecular Chemistry and Physics.
• Agostini, L.; Moreira, J.C.F.; Bendia, A.G.; Kmit, M.C.P.; Waters, L.G.; Santana, M.F.M.; Sumida, P.Y.G.; Turra, A.; Pellizari, V.H. 2021. Deep-sea plastisphere: long term experimental colonization of plastic-associated bacterial and archaeal communities in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean. Science of the Total Environment.
• Santana, M.F.M.; Moreira, F.T.; Pereira, C.D.S.; Abessa, D.M.S; Turra, A. 2018. Continuous exposure to microplastic does not cause physiological effects in the cultivated mussel Perna perna. Arch. Environ. Contamination & Toxicoly.
• Oliveira, A.L.; Barbosa, L.; Camargo, R.M.; Santana, M.F.M.; Moreira, F.; Turra, A. 2018. Integrating geotechnology in marine litter on beaches – a citizen science approach. Sustainability, Agri, Food and Environmental Research.
• Santana, M.F.M.; Turra, A. Toxicity of microplastics in the marine environment. In: A handbook of environmental toxicology. 1st Ed. Edinburgh, UK: CAB International. 2020. Pages: 436-453.

Microplastic monitoring data: https://portal.aodn.org.au/

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We are halfway through Plastic Free July and I'm so proud of all of you!! I'm so excited you've been keeping up with these episodes, and I hope you've learned a few things and are eager to expand your plastic awareness beyond yourself this week, because it's all about caring for our community. Additionally we speak to Caitlin Smith, a PhD student at University of Sunshine Coast using biomonitoring tools to study the impacts of chemical exposure and toxicity on turtle health due to plastic ingestion.

NOTE: Blog post for this week is delayed until the end of the week unfortunately!

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [1:36] Challenge - Week 3
• [4:05] Remember that viral video with a turtle that had a straw stuck in its nose? Turns out it might not be the only problem we should be concerned about
• [5:35] What are some of the other major dangers associated with plastic debris?
• [8:33] What are some of the novel methods being used in Caitlin's research?
• [12:22] Plastics were found in a human fetus!
• [13:23] What does it mean that Caitlin is finding plastics in external tissues of turtles?
• [15:56] What are Caitlin's hope in this space moving forward?
• [17:15] What even are biodegradable plastics?
• [19:00] What does Caitlin's research mean for the future of turtle populations?

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Welcome back to Week 2 of Plastic Free July and our new episode series!

We hope you're joining us to keep going on your Plastic Free July Journey. In this episode we reflect on last week's tasks, and how it feels to start becoming aware of how much plastic is in our lives. Our topic for this week is about greenwashing, how to break up with Amazon, and how to better critically think about our products with our friend and sustainability homegirl Krystina Jarvis from A Drop in the Ocean Shop.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [2:38] Challenge: week 2
• [6:45] How a plastic-free documentary ad gave me the ick
• [13:40] How do we stop relying on Amazon?
• [17:40] "We cant consume our way into a sustainable future" - KJ
• [21:24] Don't be afraid to call people out and make sure you know companies are greenwashing
• [25:30] Are influencers promoting a lifestyle that is not inherently sustainable?

RESOURCES:
How to break up with Amazon blog post - A Drop in the Ocean Shop
Corporate regulation of greenwashing in AUS

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