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Are Ocean Scientists Becoming Fundraisers Just to Survive? · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Many marine scientists are now spending almost as much time chasing funding
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  as they are doing actual science.
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  This is the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, your weekday ocean news update.
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  If you care about staying informed about the ocean every weekday, hit
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  that follow button right now so you don't miss tomorrow's story.
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  Look, when most people think about marine scientists, they picture fieldwork.
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  Research vessels, driving on coral reefs, tagging sharks, tracking whales.
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  But behind the scenes, there's another reality most people never see.
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  A huge amount of ocean science now depends on fundraising.
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  Grant applications, donor meetings, partnership pitches, public communication.
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  And for many researchers, that pressure is growing.
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  So today's question is this: Are scientists being pushed into
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  becoming fundraisers just to keep ocean conservation alive?
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  That's really what we're gonna dive into today.
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  ' Cause ocean science is one of the most expensive fields in research.
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  It's not easy to work in the ocean.
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  Research vessels cost enormous amounts of money to operate.
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  So some UNOLS fleets will cost up to $30,000 or more than $30,000 per day
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  US, which for Canada, that's insane.
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  Satellite systems are expensive.
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  Underwater robotics are expensive.
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  Field expeditions are even expensive.
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  Even basic monitoring programs require staffing, travel,
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  equipment, permits, and analysis.
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  And funding is limited.
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  To be honest, there are some people who are doing some great things.
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  Dr. Andrew Thaler, who's been on the podcast for quite some time, he always
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  works on openCTD, which is a line of sampling products that he creates
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  that you can use and buy at a cheaper price than what is normally done
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  and still does the exact same thing.
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  You can always check that out on his Patreon.
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  But it's just amazing what people can do.
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  But funding limitations are real.
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  Government research budgets often shift with political priorities, like we see
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  down south in the Trump administration.
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  Even in Canada, we've seen a lot of reduction in the size of government, like
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  actual public workers who are working on science and conservation projects all
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  the time on behalf of the government.
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  There's been a downturn in that, and there's been a
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  shrinking of that workforce.
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  Economic downturns can also reduce granting opportunities, which
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  we're kind of facing right now.
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  And nonprofit organizations are competing for many of the same funding pools.
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  This creates an environment where researchers are constantly
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  searching for financial support.
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  And honestly, it also creates a very competitive-natured workforce of
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  nonprofit organizations where people are backstabbing each other 'cause they're
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  trying to go after the same funding.
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  They're kinda crap-talking everybody behind their backs.
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  It's really not a great sight to see and witness for all this kind of stuff.
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  And searching for funding takes time.
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  And some scientists spend months every year writing proposals.
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  There's a lot of times where I speak to people who have started their own
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  projects, who have done amazing work so far on very limited budgets, yet they're
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  still looking for funding all the time.
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  They complain that most of their time is spent on funding.
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  If they can spend less time on funding, they can do a lot better, and but A
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  lot of people can't afford someone who's just looking for funding and
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  doing grant writing or a team of that because that's the hardest part.
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  Others depend on short-term project funding that creates uncertainty
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  around staffing and long-term planning.
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  You can't go, like grants of six months that have a very limited budget.
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  A lot of times they won't pay for overhead, so you can't pay for people
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  permanently, but you can do a lot of contract hires, which makes it difficult
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  to not only manage from a time and logistics perspective, but the training
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  that goes involved in making sure that people who are long-term would actually
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  be able to handle this work, right?
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  And this pressure can influence what research gets prioritized
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  because, like projects with strong public appeal may attract more
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  support, less visible but equally important work may actually struggle.
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  This is where things really start to change.
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  Scientists are no longer expected to only publish research.
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  They are increasingly expected to communicate publicly.
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  And honestly, many are very good at it.
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  Like I get surprised at it because we don't do any training.
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  We just go into science, and we're expected to do science stuff.
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  But now you see marine scientists building audiences on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube,
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  LinkedIn, podcasts, and documentaries.
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  And some of that communication is educational.
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  So we're starting to see like a bit of a secondary nature here.
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  And when they get brought on to different organizations or companies, they tend
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  to help that company or organization because they have all these connections,
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  they have all these followers.
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  So if some of it helps attract partnerships and funding, and also it can
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  help build trust with the people because as you are having that public profile,
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  people start to gain loyalty towards you.
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  Like, I have people who listen to me all the time and will
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  always message me and stuff.
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  And when I'm doing stuff, they're really happy that I'm in a new position or
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  that I'm doing something new or working on a project because they trust the
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  work that I've done because of the many years that they've been following me.
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  But this shift, it also creates a lot of pressure because universities
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  traditionally train scientists to communicate with other scientists,
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  not the public, not donors, not policymakers, and certainly
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  not algorithms of social media.
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  There's also growing research showing that storytelling matters enormously
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  in science communication That's huge.
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  People respond emotionally to narratives, just like in that book, Don't Be
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  Such a Scientist by Randy Olson.
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  This is one where it's like, hey, scientists speak logic, so
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  they speak to each other's brain.
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  But when you speak to an audience that may not be scientific, you're
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  speaking to a non-scientific audience, you are go- attacking the gut because
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  that's where the emotions happen, whether it be sadness, whether it
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  be happiness, whether it be anger.
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  That's where you want to get because that's what's really gonna pull people in.
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  You don't wanna make people sad, but you want them to really identify with
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  the story, and emotions is that, right?
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  You don't wanna just do data, because they respond to narratives.
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  That means scientists are increasingly competing in an attention economy.
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  The only time I've heard the attention economy before is in, like, these
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  marketing YouTube videos where creators are trying to teach people how to make
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  YouTube, and they make money on teaching people how to make YouTube, and they're
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  like, "You can do this on any platform, or you can do this with any niche."
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  And that's not true because a lot of people have done it in ocean, and
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  they haven't been able to do it.
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  Only a few selected people have been able to do it, and they work
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  hard, and they do really do great.
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  But not a lot of people have been able to do it in this attention economy.
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  It's a very difficult economy to gain attention.
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  And attention, though, once you get it, can directly affect opportunity.
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  One example is Christian Parsons, who does the Shark Bytes podcast,
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  I guess, show on YouTube.
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  Shark Bytes is a very popular YouTube channel.
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  I think it has over 184,000 subscribers, maybe even more by now.
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  That was the last time I checked.
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  He talks about sharks each and every week.
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  He does these videos.
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  He's a scientist, and he couldn't find a job, so he decided to go to do this
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  YouTube show, and he's making money on the YouTube show to help him survive
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  on his own, and he's able to do the science that he practically wants to do.
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  It's still expensive, but he gets to collaborate, he gets to still
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  do science, and he can use that science in his communication.
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  And I think that's a really important thing 'cause maybe that
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  will help him lead towards his next big job or his next opportunity.
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  'Cause I know it certainly happened to me.
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  When I started to build that public profile through podcasting and then all
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  the other social media spaces, people are like, "Andrew, how are you doing
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  all this work? That's amazing." Like, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here.
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  I'm very humble in this kind of stuff.
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  But when I start to get recruited by people, and this is how I got my
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  recent job at Pisces Oceans, they were like, "Andrew, we love what you do.
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  We love the fact that you can do all this as a one-person show and that you're out
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  here doing the good work of speaking about the ocean How would you like to come on
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  and help our clients do the same thing?
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  And that's what I do at Pisces Oceans, which by the way, is the sponsor of
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  the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  You know, working with this team is fantastic.
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  I get to work on a variety of different projects.
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  So not just helping people amplify their message, but helping people look
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  at how they can gain a bigger public attention, a bigger public profile
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  online digitally, and then help them with that strategy, and then implement that
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  strategy by doing social media campaigns or, you know, newsletter campaigns or
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  policy newsletter campaigns to, like, hit that right target audience that's
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  right for them and be able to tell their stories to help them get more funding.
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  It's a wonderful opportunity, and I just love it.
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  So I want you guys to check out.
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  If you're an organization, a nonprofit organization that wants
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  to work with somebody to help you out with your communication
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  strategy, to help you get funding,
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  go to piscesoceans.ca.
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  I'll put the link in the show notes, but piscesoceans.ca.
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  And you can check out what we do, all the different services that we do.
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  And if you wanna know more, you can hit me up on LinkedIn message or just hit me
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  up on the socials that I have in the show notes, because I would love to work with
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  you and help you with your organization or your project that you're working at.
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  So let's talk about what happens next.
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  I don't think this type of trend is going away, where individual scientists,
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  individual conservationists are going to be having to fund their own thing and
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  having to do their own communication and having to raise that public profile.
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  In fact, I actually think the communication skills are becoming
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  essential for modern conservation careers.
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  That doesn't mean that every scientist needs to become an influencer.
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  No, no, that's not the way it works.
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  But it does mean organizations may need stronger communication teams, media
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  partnerships, and storytelling strategies through maybe consultants at the beginning
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  before they can shape up their team.
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  Because public understanding shapes political pressure, donor interest,
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  conservation priorities, political momentum, along with long-term funding.
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  And that's what's really important.
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  Some of the most effective ocean advocates today are people who can
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  bridge science and public understanding.
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  That includes researchers, journalists, educators, podcasters,
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  filmmakers, and community leaders.
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  The future of conservation may depend on all of them working together
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  Because great science still matters.
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  But in today's world, the ability to explain why the science matters
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  may shape whether conservation efforts actually survive.
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  If you want to know more, you like what you heard today, and you want
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  to know more and you want to listen to tomorrow's episode and the day
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  after and you don't want to miss an episode, follow this podcast.
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  Check out piscesoceans.ca because we can help you with your communication
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  plan for your nonprofit organization.
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  And as well, tune in tomorrow because we're going to talk more nonprofit
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  organization ways of raising funds and ways of just surviving as a company
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  in this really, really hard time.
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  And on Friday, we're going to be talking to James Meisner, who's a
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  nonprofit consultant, who's going to be talking about how ocean nonprofits
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  can do better and succeed in this type of climate or any climate.
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  So check that out.
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  And until next time, I want to thank you so much for joining me on today's episode
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  of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.