Career Profiles

Career Profiles

Marine Biology

Marine biologists and ecologists are champions of the environment. They take up the challenges posed to plant and animal survival by climate change, global warming, pollution and even tourism. As people move in greater numbers around the planet, biosecurity is a key area for ecologists as countries work to protect indigenous ecosystems from pests. Only a few marine biologists swim with humpback whales and even fewer ecologists incubate the eggs of tuatara. But there are many other fascinating life forms to study and discover in the sea and on land. Managing biodiversity in marine and land-based ecosystems is a growing area of work for scientists, and people with specialist skills and knowledge are in high demand worldwide.

Marine Biology

Marine biology is the study of life in the sea and how different organisms interact with one another and their environment. They face the disparate challenges of understanding, protecting and making sustainable use of the marine environment. With increasing knowledge of how plants and animals live today, predictions can be made about how marine ecosystems will cope with changes such as global warming, pollution, pressure from fisheries and even damage caused by tourism. In New Zealand waters there is an estimated 100,000 unknown species just waiting to be discovered. Of those we know about, research is continually revealing new ways in which marine species can help humans sustain life.

The work of marine biologists also links with medical science and the pharmaceuticals industry. For example, in New Zealand waters the Mycale hentscheli marine sponge assembly provides a complex molecule called peloruside, isolated by scientists at Victoria University, which could have a major role in controlling cancer.

Fisheries research is another growth area with the development of aquaculture and fisheries management. In New Zealand mussel and salmon farming are growth industries. Research for fisheries management involves learning how to manage the stocks of commercially exploitable fish that live around shores or in the deep seas. Surveys are conducted of fish populations at larval, immature and mature stages. Computer models are used to help predict future stocks of fish, and governments use the data to impose fishing controls that can help a species to survive the pressures of highly efficient modern fishing methods that can threaten species with extinction.

Download a complete copy of Career View on Marine Biology below.

Career View on Marine Biology is part of the Career View series produced by Career Development and Employmentat Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. While the booklet was originally developed for a New Zealand audience, we believe that graduates in Australia will also find the information within it relevant and useful.

Check out the excellent resources available on the Victoria University of Wellington's Careers homepage at www.vuw.ac.nz/st_services/careers .