Are Ocean Scientists Becoming Fundraisers Just to Survive?

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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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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.