‘A love affair with the sea’: Meet a scientist who overcame hurdles to dedicate her life to studying the ocean

(Press-News.org) by Dr Mary Elizabeth Livingston

In my recently published paper ‘My love affair with the sea’ I describe how from a very early age I fell in love with the sea and pursued that love throughout my younger years and at university, ending up with a 40-year career as a fisheries scientist. Political changes on how women were perceived in the workplace benefitted me and I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to work in a job that has taken me to many parts of the globe and given me such a purposeful way of contributing to human and ecological wellbeing.

I am originally from the UK but moved to New Zealand as a post-graduate student in 1976. I ended up staying in this remote corner of the planet, and in 2022, I retired. But my love affair with the sea is as strong as it ever was. These days, I can be seen on the south coast of Wellington with my camera in hand trying to capture the moods and whims of the sea in Cook Strait.

Barriers to success

I believe that the stresses on women in fisheries science during my early career in the 1970s and 80s (and other related disciplines such as observers, fisheries, management, industry) were particularly great. Then, at sea and in the field, women scientists entered the world of men in New Zealand. Not only did we work in a male dominated field, but in New Zealand at least, there was a highly charged polarization between industry and conservation, which added an underlying complexity. For example, not only did I find that women at sea had to prove themselves time and again as being ‘one of the boys’, but further, we were automatically seen as ‘greenies’ or ‘bottom feeders’ - a term for creatures living on the seabed – which made it harder to work through. But, on almost every survey, there would be at least two women on the science team, and we supported each other fervently.

Lodging complaints was very difficult to do, and was not seen as a way to achieve co-operative working conditions. Biases also occurred ashore in the science institutions, but we became good at holding our own when attending science meetings and the like. It may well be that the same issues occurred across other western countries, but my experience is that in Australia, the US, the UK, Scandinavia, the EU, and Chile, fisheries science was better supported, with strong infrastructure and decision-making mechanisms, compared with New Zealand.

We had a small research vessel, RV ‘James Cook’ that was really quite unsuitable for New Zealand’s offshore waters, so we made do with chartering large research and commercial fishing vessels from other nations. Cultural and language barriers added to the challenges that we faced at sea (men and women) but more often than not, the women were better at appeasing the foreign skippers. By this I mean we demonstrated considerably higher emotional intelligence which helped smooth the pathway for successful surveys and robust data collection while on board.

A change in direction

Things did improve during the latter part of my career. Management practices became far more family friendly, and I really benefited from that. For example, my new employers were highly supportive regarding career opportunities for women and built an on-site childcare center for us to use – all part of the Equal Employment Opportunity focus of the times. At sea, more robust disciplinary processes to protect women were introduced and more serious thought was given to ensuring that women in all aspects of fisheries science were better heard.

I maintain that while there is always room for improvement regarding male-female equality, the bigger issues facing women in fisheries science today are lack of funding for the scientific monitoring and understanding of stock sustainability, and the lack of political will to champion broader investigation about oceanic ecosystems and the biological limits to wild caught fisheries. Numerous in-depth reviews have provided suggestions on how to bring together indigenous rights, science, industry, aquaculture, recreational fishers, and government, but so far, the infrastructure and commitment has not been forthcoming.

In conclusion I feel extremely lucky to have had such an interesting and challenging career. Being female can even be advantageous, but this sort of career is not for the faint-hearted. A passion for the ocean and for looking after the animals that live in it was a key part to how I kept going.

END