Category: Marine Biology

Environment, Life, Marine Biology, Science

Peril on the Sea: Nautical Nightmares

by Dr Abalone • March 28, 2016 • 2 Comments

As a marine biologist and surfer I have spent a lot of time on and in the ocean. And while surveying the shore, riding waves, scuba diving, or being underwater in a submersible, I have developed a great respect for the sea. She is all-powerful, magnificent, unpredictable, inspiring, and terrifying all at once. And there are moments you face the realization that you are helpless, the sea is in control, that you may die; all you can do is surrender to its power. It is a completely sublime, humbling but ultimately a life changing experience.

Animal ethics, Environment, Marine Biology, Philosophy

Are Animals Conscious and Does it Matter?

by Dr Abalone • March 24, 2016 • 1 Comment

Many people hope that some day we may meet an intelligent being from another world. Hollywood tells us this stranger will come flying down in a spaceship, and will look a bit like us. Most importantly, he’ll have a mind like ours and we’ll figure out how to communicate in a few hours. But maybe…

Environment, Life, Marine Biology

Island in the Stream: the Timeless and Haunting Beauty of Santa Cruz Island

by Dr Abalone • March 20, 2016 • 6 Comments

A Haunting Beauty The first thing I noticed was the quietness. Standing on the cliff at the west end all I heard was the wind blowing off the ocean, the waves crashing on the shore, the gulls screaming in the air, all mixed with the smell of the sea. No cars, no trucks, no sounds of…

Grinds, Life, Marine Biology

The Abalone Song (or what do while pounding the abs)

by Dr Abalone • February 28, 2016 • 4 Comments

Abalone are definitely one of the most exquisite things to eat from the sea. Their sublime flavor is both buttery and slightly salty and tastes like a cross between a scallop and calamari. But it is even better than that. A big part of the culture of collecting and eating wild abalone, and one of the…

Environment, Marine Biology

Gone with the Tide: the Abalone Divers of Isla Natividad

by Dr Abalone • February 27, 2016 • 4 Comments

During the summer of 1986 we embarked on the ultimate surfing ecology road trip. Combining my interests of surfing and marine biology we set off looking for abalone and good, uncrowded waves. I had just established study sites and tagged black abalone in northern and southern California. Baja was next.

Environment, Marine Biology, Science

The Elephant Seals of Año Nuevo

by Dr Abalone • February 2, 2016 • 3 Comments

The year was 1987 and I was searching for a place where black abalone were largely undisturbed so I could complete my dissertation. The island was the perfect location: isolated, difficult to access, federally protected, and surrounded by seal- and shark- infested waters. During my first low tide on the island I was ecstatic: blacks were common and it was the perfect place to conduct a study but there were elephant seals everywhere.

Life, Marine Biology, Philosophy

How to Become a Marine Biologist: Being Successful in Graduate School

by Dr Abalone • January 24, 2016 • 2 Comments

So you made it! You’ve been accepted into a graduate program and are starting your career as a graduate student. Congratulations! You are among a small group of individuals that have the privilege of working beyond your baccalaureate degree. Now what? As I have discussed previously grad school is very different from your undergraduate…

Animal ethics, Environment, Marine Biology

Shore Whaling at Trinidad, California in the 1920s

by Dr Abalone • January 15, 2016 • 1 Comment

Standing there today you can imagine it. Just walk outside the Seascape Restaurant near Trinidad Pier and you are on hallowed ground. Ground consecrated by the blood and guts of thousands of magnificent whales and a few brave whalemen. Here, for six years in the 1920s, whales were brought ashore and butchered by men for their oil, their baleen, for their very bones. And lest we judge these men for their actions, back then it was no different then catching fish. Of bringing a commodity to market; a way of making a living; albeit a hard one with many risks.

Life, Marine Biology, Philosophy

How to Become a Marine Biologist: Getting into Graduate School

by Dr Abalone • December 27, 2015 • 4 Comments

So you have your degree and now you’re thinking about graduate school. Why not? It’s the next logical step, right? Wrong. Although that may make sense in your head, it may not be the best path to a successful career in marine biology. Grad school is a big commitment, for you and for many others,…

Environment, Marine Biology

Return of The Birds

by Dr Abalone • December 13, 2015 • 0 Comments

He looked out to sea and watched the crested breakers, combing green. They rose stiffly, curled, and broke again; and because it was ebb tide, the roar was distant, more remote, lacking the sound and thunder of the flood. Then he saw them. The gulls. Out there, riding the seas. What he had thought at…

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