Fear and excitement filled my body when we got the long anticipated email about returning to the lab after lockdown. I began this year in the West Highlands of Scotland, In a beautiful coastal town called Oban, with a population of 8,500.

Hello Women in Ocean Science! My name is Brooke Anderson and I am a marine biologist that studies sharks and other fish.

Elasmo Week is a virtual event about sharks, skates and rays - a group of fish collectively called Elasmobranchs. Real scientists will be talking about the various and mind-blowing ways they study elasmobranchs while celebrating as many species as they can! It is a free week-long event, and if you miss out on any of the live talks, they will be available on the MISS YouTube channel for future binge-watching.

My name is Rose Santana. I was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to Florida to study marine science four years ago. I recently graduated with my Bachelors in Marine Biology and Minors in Environmental Studies and Marine and Coastal Affairs. And I currently work as a Lab Manager at Florida International University before applying for Graduate School next year.

Catherine Cushenan, also know as Cat Sharks, has spent the past six years travelling the tropics, studying shark behaviour - with a little bit of tourism action and videography on the side. She is a shark ecologist, drone pilot and freediver from the U.K. whom has dedicated her life to saving the ocean and its inhabitants. Read below to find out about her enviable relationship with sharks.

Northern Ireland is a small part, of a small island, off the west coast of the United Kingdom. If you’ve heard of my home country then you’re likely to know us for the Giants Causeway (a bunch of basalt columns), the Titanic (the most famous ship that sank), or The Troubles (our troubling history). But there is a valuable part of our heritage that has been lost in cultural memory – our sharks, skates and rays (elasmobranchs).

When I was little I would always tell people that I wanted to be a veterinarian. I even went to college on a pre-vet track. However, the ocean had always been a wonderful and mysterious place to me. I spent countless days fishing with my dad and several summers visiting family in Myrtle Beach, SC, but I had no idea that you could study the ocean and its inhabitants as a job.

In June of 2020 we, the soon-to-be co-founders of MISS, connected/reconnected on Twitter through #BlackInNature, a hashtag that went viral after @BlackAFInSTEM launched Black Birders Week. As the hashtag grew we slowly increased our ranks. Suddenly, four women who had felt completely isolated now had a community of scientists that looked like them.

Skates, together with sharks and rays, are the only extant vertebrates that possess a cartilaginous skeleton. Although it hasn’t been explicitly tested in other species of skates (and there are about 150 species described!), we have a good understanding that they all share the same genetic machinery necessary for formation of cartilaginous skeleton.

I am currently a PhD Candidate in Marine Science at North Carolina State University. I was born and raised in Stone Mountain GA, youngest of three daughters. I love the Atlanta Falcons and boiled peanuts are my favorite southern snack!

Lola Paradinas is a passionate PhD researcher working at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), based in Oban on the west coast of Scotland. She grew up on a sailing boat for the first ten years of her life circumnavigating the globe. Being in constant contact with the sea, she learnt to appreciate, respect and protect the marine environment.

Plastic Pollution is one of the biggest problems facing the marine environment today. Plastic waste can often be found as litter along the side of the road or places where people gather like the beach. Even when disposed of properly, some plastic, like carryout bags and straws can be transported by the wind and often ends up in the nearest body of water. As we look to reducing single-use plastic consumption, it’s important to look at some of the policies in place.

Growing up on an island that was only 26 miles long and 2 miles wide you couldn’t escape the sea if you tried. The sea and trips to the beach were a regular occurrence for me throughout my childhood, but it really wasn’t until 6th form (year 12) that I decided to get serious about a career in marine biology.

At the age of 12, I was on vacation and asked to assist in an emergency wild sea turtle nest removal mission. That day was the a catalyst of my career and my life to protecting nature as a field biologist. I left my home during the pandemic and travelled across the US to work under the National Park Service as a Kemp’s Ridley Biotech. So yeah, I love sea turtles. But I can’t be fully on board with the straw ban.

Karla Martins Is a Fisheries engineer from Brazil. As a PhD candidate, she is a Black woman in a space traditionally occupied by white men. Karla has a thought provoking and positive attitude to the changes that are being made to dismantle and reconstruct racial attitudes towards education.

Like many of the extraordinary women featured on this site, I fell in love with the ocean early on and fell hard. Declaring myself a future marine biologist by the time I was about 9 years old, I spent summers exploring the barnacle-ridden rocky tidal pools at Wingaersheek Beach in my home state of Massachusetts or catch-and-releasing crabs and invertebrates that were unfortunate enough to pass by my grandparents’ dock in Chesapeake Bay. I was happiest when I was saltiest, and that hasn’t changed.

Ida-Wenona Hendricks is a Tropical marine biologist, naturalist and budding taxonomist; she shares with us her journey as a Black African female marine biologist. Her unique experiences and the hurdles she has had to overcome in the industry. As a Namibian marine biologist Ida has faced repercussions for questioning neo-colonial practices in her home country. In addition, Ida is helping women of colour to protect their beautiful coils from saltwater in an eco-friendly way.

With the help of some inspiring, powerful and brilliant Black women, we have come together to share our stories of being Black women in marine science. I hope our stories and reflections inspire you. For some, this is the first time we have been able to share our experiences so candidly. For others, it is the first time we have been asked. We are making waves in this industry and are working hard to inspire future generations of women of colour in marine conservation.