Asha de Vos could have spent her career chasing her own next discovery. Instead, once she'd built up her own research, her fellowships, and her global speaking career, she made a deliberate pivot: training what she calls "an army of local ocean heroes," starting in Sri Lanka and reaching conservationists in developing countries around the world who are protecting their own coastlines, often at real personal risk, with little recognition or support. That mission is why, in 2017, she founded Oceanswell, Sri Lanka's first marine conservation research and education organization, built on a philosophy that rejects "parachute science" (outside experts flying in, extracting data, and leaving) in favor of local people who already know their own communities best.

That mission grew out of her own science. In 2003, Asha de Vos was a deckhand on a research vessel near her home island when she spotted six blue whales congregating together, a chance sighting that led her to discover a population of blue whales that stays in Sri Lankan waters year-round instead of migrating like every other known population on Earth. That discovery, and the years she spent studying the whales' neon-orange poop, made her the first Sri Lankan to ever earn a PhD studying marine mammals, in a country where that scientific path simply hadn't existed before her. Her research also revealed these whales were increasingly being struck by container ships along one of the world's largest shipping lanes, a danger she brought to public attention in 2012, then spent a decade pressing the Sri Lankan government, the International Whaling Commission, and the World Shipping Council to address, until the Mediterranean Shipping Company announced in 2022 it would slow and reroute its ships south, away from the whales.

Along the way, she's become a TED Senior Fellow, a Pew Marine Fellow, a BBC 100 Women honouree, and the first Sri Lankan woman to ever have a portrait hung at Oxford University, but her focus now is on the ocean heroes she's helping raise up behind her. Catch Ocean Decoded Live for daily ocean news breakdowns and Ocean People Profiles like this one, Monday to Thursday, 4:00–6:00 PM Eastern. Subscribe and hit the bell so you don't miss it.

Chapters:
0:00 Meet Dr. Asha de Vos: The Deckhand Who Discovered Sri Lanka's Blue Whales
3:39 The Whale Poop "Eureka Moment" That Sparked Her Career
8:01 2022: The World's Largest Shipping Line Reroutes to Save the Whales
9:41 Founding Oceanswell: Training an Army of Local Ocean Heroes
10:23 Why She's Fighting Against "Parachute Science" to Empower Local Scientists

Takeaways:

Asha de Vos deliberately shifted her focus from advancing her own research career to training what she calls "an army of local ocean heroes" in developing countries around the world.

In 2017, she founded Oceanswell, Sri Lanka's first marine conservation research and education organization, built to support local conservationists instead of outside "parachute scientists."

She got there through her own discovery: in 2003, as a deckhand, she spotted six blue whales and went on to find that Sri Lanka's blue whales stay in local waters year-round instead of migrating like every other known population.

That discovery made her the first Sri Lankan to ever earn a PhD studying marine mammals, in a country with no prior scientific path for that work.

Her research linking ship strikes to Sri Lanka's whales led to a decade of advocacy, culminating in the Mediterranean Shipping Company's 2022 decision to slow and reroute its ships around them.

Local conservationists in other countries risk real danger, including violence and disappearance, for protecting their own coastlines, part of why she believes they need support, not replacement by outside experts.

Her honours include TED Senior Fellow, Pew Marine Fellow, BBC 100 Women, and being the first Sri Lankan woman to have a portrait hung at Oxford University.

#OceanConservation #MarineBiology #SaveOurOceans #ProtectTheOcean #OceanAwareness #BluePlanet #ConservationMatters #ScienceForChange #SustainableOceans
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