You’ve watched Blue Planet over a hundred times, you’ve survived the obligatory algae module, beaten the odds and come to grips with statistics, endured the inescapable ‘fun fact’ about barnacles countless times and are starting to polish your CV in preparation for those job applications that will make you the next Jacques Cousteau. But there is something missing. ‘Field experience advantageous’ the job advert states. Does that intertidal field course you took at uni count? Surely it can’t be that different, uni is supposed to prepare you for real life isn’t it? Well, yes but unfortunately in today’s market and the competitive field of marine biology, it’s not enough and you will be hard pressed to find work experience that you get paid for; unpaid volunteering and interning has become the foundation of many conservation charities and a large proportion of graduates have to pay their dues as volunteers and interns before being considered eligible for ‘real‘ jobs. This is especially the case for those of us who want to work with ‘charismatic megafauna’; sharks, dolphins & whales and sea turtles.
At first glance it may not look too bad; most university notice boards are plastered with glossy leaflets promising ‘research expeditions’ that are ‘ideal for students’. There is a couple of things these organisations usually have in common, amazing animals, exotic locations and a hefty price tag. As a one off experience, they may not be completely without value, especially if you have no experience whatsoever, at the least you will get a nice tan and probably have a good time but a lot of these experiences are not genuine representations of real field work. A good place to look for free experience is your university, some places will offer summer jobs as sorting plankton samples during the holidays or even participating in some research trips but there are other options out there as well and in the next few articles we will have a look at some volunteering opportunities open to graduates based on our own experiences.
First up in our work experience series, one for the cetacean lovers; the UK based cetacean research charity, the SeaWatch Foundation.
SeaWatch offers a variety of possibilities to bolster your CV, home based volunteering, volunteering with local groups, volunteering with the Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project and they also offer training courses once a year. For the purpose of this article we will focus on home based volunteering and the Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project.
Home based volunteering in short:
Cost: free
Hours: flexible
Work: desk based
Commitment: flexible
Home based volunteering is probably the easiest and most cost effective way to get some cetacean related experience without having to compromise your current lifestyle. It’s up to you how much you want to do and when, so whether you are still at university or working in a bank to make some money until you get a job in the field you love, it’s easy to fit it in. Of course you will not be going out on boats and practicing your photo-identification but contrary to what Animal Planet would have the world believe, working in marine mammal science is not all that glamorous, there is a lot of database work to go with those glorious survey days and it’s a valuable skill to have. Plus you will also get that fuzzy warm feeling you only get from doing good; SeaWatch relies heavily on volunteers and any little contribution can make a big difference to the work load of the Sighting and Monitoring Officer.
Home based tasks vary depending on what needs to be done but a lot of work is centered on SeaWatch’s national sighting network. Whether its entering sightings or finding coordinates of sightings in Google Earth, there is always something to do! Currently SeaWatch is also looking for IT savvy people to give some input on web design amongst other things, so if you think you could spare a few hours a week, want to contribute to a good cause and get some valuable experience for your CV, this may be just the thing for you.
For more information and contact details, check out: http://www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk/support.php?uid=257
Cardigan Bay Monitoring Project in short
Cost: Volunteers cover their own accommodation in shared house(£55 per week) and food costs
Hours: 10AM -4PM in the office, 2 hours field work during 1 weekend day, whole day surveys depending on the weather
Work: Desk based, public awareness, land and boat based fieldwork
Commitment: 6+ weeks
SeaWatch recruit volunteers for their Monitoring Project in Cardigan Bay annually. Based in New Quay, West Wales, the project aims to monitor the resident bottlenose dolphin population of Cardigan Bay. It’s one of only two resident bottlenose dolphin populations in the UK with about 200 individuals permanently inhabiting the area. Volunteers get to participate in all aspects of field and office work, from data entry to photo-identification. Typically the adverts go out at the end of the year November/December for the field season in the following year. Placements usually start in April and are divided into five six week blocks. You can choose how long you want to stay, 6 weeks or even the whole season, preference is usually given to people who can stay for more than one period as it takes quite a while to train up for all the tasks on the rota.
So what can you expect? What you will be doing is highly weather dependent, surveys can only go ahead if the sea state is 2 or less for most of the day, as sighting rates are not reliable in anything higher than that. This does not mean you will be stuck in the office all day; apart from surveys, volunteers go out on landwatches and surveys on tourist boats. A landwatch is pretty much self-explanatory; you sit on ‘land’ and ‘watch’ the sea- and of course record any dolphins, porpoises or seals you see during this time- and in New Quay that is quite a lot! Dolphins often come close to the pier in their pursuit for fish and one particular mum, Moneypenny, spent a large proportion of her time resting right in front of the pier with her adorable calf Tuppence last season!
There is a number of office tasks that are rotated between volunteers on a weekly basis; photo-identification, data entry, sightings and public awareness. Photo-identification is an essential tool to assess population size and site fidelity. Basically you will be comparing dorsal fin pictures from recent sightings to the catalogue and trying to identify individuals, maybe you’ll even get to know some of the regulars as Bond and TopNotch and be able to recognise them in the field!
Surveys are undoubtedly the thing everyone looks forward to the most but they are also hard work, often starting as the sun rises and lasting the whole day. No matter the weather, you will need plenty of clothes, it gets cold on the water and Britain is not renowned for its balmy summers! Hard work it may be- you don’t know how heavy binoculars are until you’ve held them up to your eyes for an hour- but it is definitely the most rewarding aspect of field work. Playful calves’ bowriding, impressive males showing off to each other and dolphins leaping in the sunset, it sounds like a cliché but it was reality for some of the lucky volunteers last year- and it could be for you too!
Read more about the SeaWatch volunteer experience here:
If that’s whet your appetite, good news!
CARDIGAN BAY MONITORING PROJECT IS CURRENTLY RECRUITING!
Get your applications in quickly, deadline is tomorrow!
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