What types of jobs involve marine mammals?

Most jobs with marine mammals are not as exciting or glamorous as popular television programs make them seem. Marine mammal studies often involve long, hard, soggy, sunburned days at sea, countless hours in a laboratory, extensive work on computers, hard labor such as hauling buckets of fish to feed animals, followed by hours of cleanup, writing numerous reports, and preparing tedious grant applications.

As in other fields of science, jobs dealing with marine mammals vary widely. Examples of marine mammal jobs include researcher, field biologist, fishery vessel observer, laboratory technician, animal trainer, animal care specialist, veterinarian, whalewatch guide, naturalist, educators at all levels, and government or private agency positions in legislative, management, conservation, and animal welfare issues. Many marine mammal scientists work with museum displays and collections as a curator, an artist or an illustrator, or a photographer or a film maker. Some people work with marine mammals as an avocation, which also can be rewarding.

Your answers to the following questions will help you determine your interests and decide which marine mammal scientists and facilities to contact for education, work experience, and job opportunities.

1) In what specific area of study are you interested, e.g. anatomy, physiology, evolutionary history, taxonomy, ecology, ethology, psychology, molecular biology, genetics, veterinary medicine, pathology, toxicology, biostatistics, management, conservation, museum curation, or education?

2) What species or group of marine mammals would you like to study?

3) Would you like a career that involves field or laboratory work?.

4) Would you like a career that involves care of animals, teaching, research or legislative/policy matters?

5) Would you like to work for government, industry, academia, oceanaria, museums, or private organizations, or would you like to be self-employed?

6) In what part of the country would you like to work?.

For example, the manatee is an endangered species in Florida. They have a high mortality rate because of accidental entrapment in flood control gates, collisions with speed boats, and loss of habitat. Local, state, and federal governments fund research on this species. Some local industries also are involved with management of manatees. Therefore, people wanting to study manatees most likely should look for education and work experience at universities and research facilities in Florida.