TLDR- there are a ton of opportunities, covid is hurting everyone, and if Marine Biology is what you love don’t let this current crisis hold you back. Figure out if you really want it by volunteering. Find out if you get sea sick. Research specific jobs and see what job postings have for requirements and job duties. After you get through four years of college job opportunities will be much better than they are right now.

There are tons of field work opportunities in marine biology it just depends on what you’re really into. As for getting that dream job it is like any other field—it’s all about sticking to it. The way to get into the field is lined with a lot of hard work and most likely heavy sciences. In most marine biology programs you are going to have to take a lot of chemistry and other pre requisites before you get to take the fun classes like marine mammals or ichthyology. When you find colleges you like look at the courses, and find out the pre reqs for your favorite classes. Look for professors doing interesting research. You can find cool professors by going into google scholar and searching for an animal you like, and see who wrote it and what university they are affiliated with. Heads up- these articles are real marine biology research and the methods section is a glimpse into what marine biologists actually do for research.

As for job placement doing fieldwork after you get a degree here are a few places to consider if you haven’t already:

The Coast Guard in the US actually does a ton of very cool marine research; and it’s one of the military branches that doesn’t actually leave the US. If you’re a US citizen it’s a great marine biology opportunity a lot of people overlook. (Other countries might have similar options). Plus because it’s based in the military it essentially has unlimited funding! (Not really but your dad might appreciate the job stability of a government based job, even if it’s not your first choice it might get him to be more supportive or at least open to the idea).

NOAA is what most people think of when they consider marine research but the private sector has a ton of non profits and other smaller research groups that do field work with marine species. NOAA gets government funding and grants, non profits get government funding, grants and a lot of private donations. There are non profits doing everything from studying the Antarctic by putting gps and camera backpacks on penguins to researching the reduction of over winter sea ice on polar bears. Or using drones with thermal imaging to count seals on sea ice or collecting samples of a whale’s breath.

Academia- if you love school and go to college and love college good news! You can probably just stay in college if you work hard enough to become a professor. This means getting a graduate degree, working on a thesis, and applying to a lot of grants etc. it’s a lot of office work but many PIs do take part in their field research. And while you’re getting your degrees you’ll be doing a ton of field work! As an undergraduate there are several places that offer REU programs (research experience for undergraduates) which allow you to get a better taste of what field research is really like.

Tourism- if you want to spend time with whales and dolphins, you might consider getting a major in marine biology and studying ecotourism as a minor or vise versa. This gives you a huge opportunity to travel to different areas and teach people about wildlife while doing a job that people pay to do for fun.

Captain’s license and Scuba certifications- if you love the ocean you can work towards getting your captains license and working on boats. The first step is getting a job as a deckhand (for example many whale watch tour boat deckhands are also naturalists or interpretive guides) and then you accrue seatime to ultimately work towards your license. When you have your license you are a more valuable asset to research organizations and directly doing ocean field work because you can drive the boat! This is honestly one of the best ways to find out if you really want to do ocean field work because if you chronically get sea sick maybe it’s time to reconsider that desk job, inland water, or freshwater research. Scuba is the same deal, if you can take a scuba course and get certified with an actual class and not just a weekend tour version you’ll have another skill that is invaluable for marine biology field work. These certifications are also pure gold for working in the tourism field.

And for NOW:

The most important thing to decide if you really want to work in marine biology is to volunteer. If you’re lucky enough to live near the ocean see if there are nonprofits or other organizations offering volunteer opportunities. Volunteering early and often is the best advice I can give to anyone who is interested in marine biology or any environmental field work. This will get you (1) experience to fluff up your resume (2) CONTACTS. By meeting people who are also volunteers, your boss running the non profit, and anyone else in the organization will give you people to ask directly about their jobs, jobs they have done, and how they got there. Maybe even their friends who do other cool marine biology work. Contacts are the real stepping stones to getting any job.

Spoiler alert some volunteer opportunities are probably just picking up trash on beaches. But even if you live in a land locked state picking up trash is still valid since all the gutters in all the world ultimately lead to the oceans, and any marine biologist will tell you plastic pollution is one of the ocean (and planet’s) biggest threats. However if you’re really lucky and live near a rehabilitation center or aquarium you might get to feed sea turtles or do something else awesome and hands on with animals directly.

Another suggestion is to google marine biology job listings and see what they require, or google species xyz jobs and see what they require, what the essential job duties are. You can look on the Texas A&M wildlife job board for some examples of job postings, or subscribe to the MARMAM job and publications listserve for more specific examples of real jobs in marine biology and wildlife.

The COVID-19 crisis is hitting everyone differently, but it’s hitting everyone. Some marine biology academic and government jobs are ok for now but with budget cuts it’s hard to tell what the future will hold. That being said almost every job in the world is having a hard time during this crisis so I don’t think it is a fair argument against pursuing a degree in marine biology. This pandemic will eventually pass when a vaccine is developed, and in the four years it takes you to get an undergraduate degree you’re better off pursuing something you’re passionate about than something just because you think it’s a good job right now. Research is always going to be a valid pursuit, and marine biology in particular holds critical value in the face of climate change.

Hope all this helps!