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What Happens to Ocean Science During a War? · How To Protect The Ocean

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  What would you do if your research species was endangered, your
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  coastline was under constant pressure, and a war broke out around you?
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  One marine scientist in Gaza is trying to answer this question while studying
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  one of the Mediterranean Sea's most mysterious animals, the giant devil ray.
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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 on the ocean every weekday, Monday to
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  Friday, hit that follow button right now on your favorite podcast app, and
• 0:26
  you won't miss tomorrow's episode Today's episode is about more than devil rays.
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  It's about what happens when science, conservation, and human
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  resilience collide in one of the most difficult places on Earth.
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  Now, before we go into this, this is a very sensitive subject matter.
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  Obviously, the crisis that's happening in Gaza, we are not
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  overlooking this on this podcast.
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  It is a tragedy and I have feelings on this, but I'm not gonna bring my
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  political beliefs on this in this area.
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  What we're gonna be doing is focusing on a Mongabay article that has to
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  do with someone studying devil rays in Gaza and obviously being
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  endangered of this person's life.
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  This is a very serious thing.
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  Unfortunately, we also saw a sea turtle biologist killed in Lebanon this
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  past week, which is a huge tragedy.
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  She felt that she wanted to be there to protect them.
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  She's from Lebanon, didn't live there, went back, and unfortunately
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  she was hit in a missile strike.
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  Absolute tragedy.
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  I'm against war in all major facets.
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  You care for the people that are affected by this, and unfortunately,
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  losing scientists to war when they're trying to study their species
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  is just so tragic in all cases.
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  And so I want to go forward with this episode because I think it's important
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  to tell this person's story, and help amplify the story that's on Mongabay
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  News, which is really well done.
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  But I wanted to make sure that we got this out of the way to just let you know
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  of where we stand here at the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, and well, it
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  really is me, because this is something that I care about very, very deeply
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  about these scientists, and we wanna support scientists who are out there.
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  So this is something that we're gonna go do.
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  We're gonna answer a question today.
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  It's, can ocean conservation continue during a humanitarian crisis?
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  So the story comes from a recent interview published by Mongabay featuring marine
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  ecologist Mohammed Abu Daya, a scientist from Gaza who has spent years studying
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  giant devil rays and other marine species in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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  So let's start with the animal at the center of the story.
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  Giant devil rays are among the largest rays in the world.
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  If you've ever seen a manta ray, they look somewhat similar.
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  They have broad wing-like fins, can grow several meters across,
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  and spend much of their lives moving through open ocean waters.
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  But unlike manta rays, giant devil rays remain relatively mysterious.
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  Scientists still know surprisingly little about population sizes,
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  migration routes, and breeding behavior.
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  That uncertainty is a problem because the species is already considered
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  endangered and recovers very slowly from population declines.
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  Female devil rays produce very few offspring, making it
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  difficult for populations to bounce back when it numbers fall.
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  For years, Mohammed Abu Daya has been working to understand these
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  animals along Gaza's coastline.
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  His research became internationally recognized after helping reveal that
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  what many media outlets once described as a mysterious mass stranding
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  of devil rays on Gaza beaches was actually a targeted fishery.
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  Hundreds of rays had been caught and landed by fishers rather
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  than washing ashore naturally.
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  That discovery helped scientists better understand both the
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  species and the challenges facing conservation in the region.
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  But then the situation became far more difficult.
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  The ongoing war in Gaza has disrupted nearly every aspect of daily life,
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  including scientific research.
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  Fieldwork became dangerous, if not impossible Equipment and resources
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  became difficult to access, and communication with collaborators
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  became even more complicated.
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  And yet Abu Daya has continued working whenever possible to document marine
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  life and contribute to conservation knowledge, even though he was
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  probably in danger when doing it.
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  That's where the story becomes much bigger than devil rays.
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  When we talk about ocean conservation, we often focus on protected areas,
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  fishing regulations, or climate change.
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  But conservation depends on something even more fundamental: people, right?
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  If we manage the people, we can manage the ocean.
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  The ocean can almost manage itself,
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  Scientists collect data, communities share knowledge, managers make decisions.
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  Without people doing that work, conservation slows
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  down or stops entirely.
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  Now, the story of Mohammed Abu Daya highlights something we rarely
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  discuss in ocean conservation.
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  Many of the world's most important ecosystems are located in regions
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  experiencing political instability, conflict, or economic hardship.
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  Yet biodiversity doesn't pause during a crisis.
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  Species continue migrating, fish continue spawning, threats
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  continue to affect wildlife.
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  And scientists working in those places often become the only
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  source of information available.
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  In Gaza, the marine environment faces unique pressures.
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  Fishing areas are restricted, economic challenges influence how marine
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  resources are used, and conservation measures can be difficult to implement.
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  Yet the coastline still supports important marine species, including
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  the endangered devil rays.
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  What's remarkable is that despite these obstacles, researchers continue
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  finding ways to collect data and engage with fishing communities.
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  That collaboration matters.
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  Many conservation successes begin with local knowledge.
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  Fishers often know when the species arrive, where they gather, and how
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  populations appear to be changing.
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  Scientists can then combine their observations with research
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  to better understand what is happening beneath the surface.
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  In other words, conservation isn't something done to communities.
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  The best conservation is usually done with communities, and that's a lesson that
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  applies whether you're working in Gaza, Canada, Australia, or anywhere else.
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  The future of devil ray conservation remains uncertain.
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  Scientists still need better information about population trends,
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  migration patterns, and habitat use throughout the Mediterranean.
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  The species faces ongoing risk from fishing pressure, accidental
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  capture, and habitat degradation.
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  But there's also a reason for optimism.
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  Every new piece of information helps build a cleaner picture
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  of how to protect these animals.
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  Researchers across the Mediterranean are increasingly collaborating on the devil
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  ray conservation, and citizen science programs are helping document sightings.
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  Conservation groups are raising awareness about the species, and scientists like
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  Mohammed Abu Daya continue contributing knowledge under circumstances that many
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  researchers would find unimaginable.
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  His story remind us that conservation isn't only about species.
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  It's also about the people who dedicate their lives to
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  understanding and protecting them.
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  When we read scientific papers, we often see just the data.
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  We see the graphs, we see the conclusions.
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  What we don't always see are the human stories behind that work, the long
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  days in the field, the uncertainty, the setbacks, and sometimes, as
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  in this case, the extraordinary determination required simply to
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  continue doing the science at all.
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  Like, let's be honest, nobody expects science to go on, especially
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  for the marine environment, while there's a war that breaks out.
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  I don't even know what we expect people to do.
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  I've never been in a war zone.
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  I could never even imagine what people go through.
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  I can only just be afraid for the people who are experiencing this, the innocent
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  people who have done nothing but just have to deal with bombs every single day.
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  How do you expect someone to go out and study these?
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  The fact that they're doing this says a lot about who they are as
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  a scientist and who they are as a person, and I have the utmost respect
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  for the people who are doing this.
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  The ocean story is really a people story.
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  Because protecting species like the giant devil rays depends not only
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  on the animals themselves, but on the people willing to keep studying
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  and protecting them even when the odds are stacked against them.
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  Just like to even think about going out when you may or may not see or
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  hear bombs going off and buildings just coming to rubble and people screaming
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  and people scared, people trying to find food, just trying to survive.
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  That's a difficult problem.
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  Gaza is not a very big place and from what I gather from what's been
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  happening, there's nowhere to go.
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  And so they're facing this and here's Mohammed who's actually out there
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  trying to collect data as much as he can, whether he's trying to keep
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  busy, keep his mind off what's going on or just continue to do his work
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  because he's passionate about it.
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  The fact that he's actually doing it is amazing.
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  Like, I just can't even consider thinking about what this guy is going through.
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  And I would love to get his story and get him on the podcast at some
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  point, but I would rather him be safe, him survive, him and his
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  family survive what's going on.
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  And hopefully he can one day tell a story at a conference or on this podcast or
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  wherever he can because I think it's one of bravery, I think it's one of courage.
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  I think it's one of trying to do something good in a bad
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  situation, a really bad situation.
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  And there are a lot of biologists out there and conservationists,
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  whether they're terrestrial, freshwater or marine, that have to go
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  through dangers on a regular basis.
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  They live in countries where there's political instability, where there's
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  drug trafficking, where there's human trafficking, where there's a lot of
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  crime, and they have to go out in remote areas where they're unprotected and they
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  are vulnerable to what's happening in and around the area that they live in.
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  And you just never know what's gonna happen.
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  And we wanna protect the people there.
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  and we want to support the people who are doing that.
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  We want them to be safe.
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  I don't know if I have the bravery and courage to do that.
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  There's no way.
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  I don't think I could do that.
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  So I give a lot of respect to Mohammed and what he's been able to do, and what he's
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  been able to gather over these last few years, and even just throughout his time
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  living in Gaza, and the fact that he's staying there, like, is just phenomenal.
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  I hope everything goes well for him.
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  I wish him well, and I hope that we get not only more data, but his safety, and
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  his family's safety, and his friends'.
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  And then just the end to the war in general, obviously.
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  It's just awful.
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  So, that's the episode for today.
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  If you enjoyed this episode and you wanna listen to more, you can follow
• 9:37
  the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 9:39
  If you wanna support the work I do, you can go to speakupforblue.com/patreon.
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  That's speakupforblue.com/patreon.
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  Link is in the show notes.
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  And of course, if you wanna contact me, you can do so on my socials.
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  I wanna thank you for joining me on today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I also wanna thank Mongabay News for writing this article and the one that
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  we covered yesterday on the podcast 'cause they're an amazing organization.
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  You should check them out at mongabay.com.
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  And I wanna thank you for listening to this episode, and have a good day.
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  We'll talk to you next time, and happy conservation.