Marine Biologist All Over the Workplace

We push our rookies hard. They see the good...

-How cool is this?

-..the bad...

and the downright astonishing.

We give them glamour,

show them excitement, get their hands dirty,

put them under pressure...

No, no.

..make them laugh...

..all so they can experience their dream jobs.

Today, two ocean-loving rookies make a splash into the wonderful world of

marine biology.

Let's go...

UNDERWATER: ..All Over The Workplace!

SCARY MUSIC

Did you get the shot?

You are supposed to be doing the length.

All right. A career in marine biology isn't just about swimming

with sharks, marvelling at marine life and fawning over fish.

You also need a deep, deep love of the ocean.

And lucky for us, our two rookies have got just that.

Our first rookie is 11

and so committed to the oceans

that he gives all his pocket money

to marine conservation charities.

Hi, I'm Struan, and I want to be

a marine biologist.

I think that marine biology is

amazing because you get to get

up close to all these

wonderful animals of the ocean.

To be a marine biologist, it's not

all fun and games in the sea,

you have to do a lot

of studying in the lab.

If I were to discover

a new type of fish,

I would probably call it

-the Strufish.

-HE CHUCKLES

Our next rookie is also 11

and is mad about turtles.

Hi, I'm Ella, and I want to be

a marine biologist.

I want to be a marine biologist

because it contains my two favourite

things in the world,

swimming and also the sea,

because it's really fascinating.

I think it would be awesome to come

face-to-face with a dolphin

or a sea turtle, but I really

don't want to come face-to-face

with a great white shark.

To find out if Struan and Ella have got their sea legs,

we're whizzing them off to Plymouth

to visit the university's Department of Marine Biology.

Hey there, you two. I bet you're in your element, aren't you?

All that life teeming away under the water.

Now, Struan, apparently you want to be a marine biologist.

What is it about marine biology that makes you so excited?

I think you can get really up close to all the animals in the ocean,

and I think it's one of the best jobs in the world.

And what about you, Ella?

What do you think about the creatures that live in the sea,

what is it about them that excites you?

Well, I think they are so cool because they can breathe underwater.

OK, you both are obviously mad about marine biology.

But let's hear what your parents think about your prospects.

I think the hard bit for Struan in marine biology

would be seeing anything suffering.

In the sea, like a fish caught in a net or something like that,

I think that would be possibly a little bit of a struggle.

She loves the sea and all the sea animals.

And I think whenever we go away on holiday,

that's where she spends a lot of the time.

But there is slight problem.

Sharks. Goodness knows what would happen if she actually did come up

to a shark, or a shark came up to her.

OK, Struan, so you might struggle if you see a fish caught in a net or

something like that. How do you think you'd react?

Well, I think if this stops and we can protect the world's oceans,

and I think I should be able to cope because there's lots of other

fascinating things about marine biology,

as well as the other bad stuff.

OK, now, Ella, you are a bit frightened of sharks.

Well, I find sharks OK,

it's just a great white shark that I really don't like.

I think it's because it's one of the biggest threats in the ocean

and it can kill loads of animals.

It's not its fault, but sometimes when you are swimming along,

it will think you are a seal and...

And it might eat you.

-Yes.

-Well, you know,

let's just hope we don't come across any sharks on this programme.

SCARY MUSIC

Anyway, enough chatting,

let's get on with your first assignment, come on.

Marine biology is the science of the sea.

Every aspect of marine life is studied,

from tiny, single-celled plankton to massive orcas,

currents, undersea volcanoes, and everything affecting the sea.

Even animal communication is studied,

and it was recently discovered that cod have regional accents.

I wonder if they tell each other jokes.

What do you call a fish in a shirt and tie?

So-fish-ticated.

OK, I've got a question for you.

We are down here on the beach, we are having a lovely picnic,

but what would happen if this plastic bag ended up blowing away

and going in the sea?

I think this could cause pollution in the ocean and is very

harmful for the fish that live there.

Because they can get trapped inside it.

Or it might think it's food and start eating it,

and that's not good for the fish.

It's not just fish, it can travel all over the world.

And turtles and other marine life can get stuck.

But there's another problem as well.

Because once that goes in the ocean, it stays there for hundreds,

maybe even thousands, of years.

And it disintegrates into microscopic particles,

which are so small,

they can get into the bodies of any kind of marine life.

So your first task is going to be to check how much plastic pollution

there is in Plymouth Sound, so let's go.

Plymouth University's Marine Station is a purpose-built,

supercool building which facilitates

the practical side of marine biology.

It has all the resources you need to study to be a successful marine

biologist, as well as diving tuition

and all sorts of other things to help study the oceans.

Professor Richard Thompson of

the School of Marine Science

is a world-leading marine biologist

based in Plymouth.

He's studied the effect of plastic

on marine life and the havoc it causes.

Richard, what are your three top tips

for becoming a marine biologist?

First of all, I think you need to think,

why do I want to become a marine biologist?

What is it that fascinates you?

Because marine biology is a very broad subject.

The second thing I'd say is, go out and see if you can try it,

see if there's a local group that do rock pool rambles or something like

that. Do you like getting muddy and salty and looking for creatures

in the sea? Does that actually work for you?

And the third thing, of course, really for any study at university,

is you're going to have to study hard,

you're going to have to get good grades.

But if you want to do it, that's what will make it easy.

Richard's top tips are...

Work out what it is about the sea that fascinates you.

Join a local club and get muddy looking for sea creatures.

Stick in at science, as it's at the heart of marine biology.

How did you get into marine biology?

Well, actually, the thing that most got me interested

was starting to see creatures

in the sea snorkelling around our coasts.

And I became fascinated in it and I decided that was what I wanted to

spend my life working on.

So, Richard, can you give us a bit more information

about our first task?

Yes. Can I give you an illustration?

I've got here a plastic carrier bag

that's broken down into lots of small pieces.

After... 12 years I've had that.

So in the sea and the environment,

the breakdown into these millions of tiny pieces,

and we know that sea life is eating these pieces.

And one of the things we've been trying to do is

understand what harm that might do them.

So what I'm hoping is you will come out on one of our boats

with us this morning and we are going to go out

and put a net into the sea

and we are going to see what we can catch.

-Great.

-Wow.

The Falcon Spirit is a 14m catamaran used for teaching and research.

This is amazing.

It has wet lab spaces for doing experiments

and areas to analyse their results.

Today, this'll be the vessel for Richard's plastic survey.

It is essential that marine biologists go out

on surveys like this to find out where the plastics are,

in what quantities and to understand how harmful the plastics are to the

marine environment.

Marine biologists are carrying out surveys like this in many countries

around the world.

Ella and Struan are carefully noting the precise location of the start of

the survey in case they wish to return at a later date

to see how things are progressing.

I want to show you the net we are going to put in the water.

It's called a manta net because it's got these fins sticking out

the side of it, like a manta ray.

This opening here, hopefully, if we get it adjusted right,

is going to be skimming just at the water's surface,

which is where a lot of the plastic accumulates because it is buoyant.

At least it's buoyant when it first enters the sea.

And as it goes through,

what's going to happen is this net at the back will be pulled out

by the force of the water and it will stream out behind

and it will collect the sample in it.

The manta net is in place in the ocean,

being towed by the Falcon Spirit.

Soon the rookies will see what the survey finds.

It looks like it's working well.

Yes, that's working just perfectly.

You see it skimming the surface of the water?

That's exactly where we want it to be.

After 50 minutes in the water, the team haul the net back aboard.

Struan and Ella are getting stuck in helping Richard to retrieve the

contents of the net.

Yes, that's it.

Job done, the rookies just need to note the position

of where they finished the survey and head back to the lab.

If you're thinking of getting involved in marine biology,

the first thing I would say is, do it,

because our oceans may be our biggest environment,

and they are vast and huge,

but that doesn't mean they are not vulnerable.

They need protecting. And the first stage of that is just understanding

them. So what I would say is, to get started,

just go out and wander down the coast,

go looking around along the strand line for animals and the things that

the surge leaves behind.

Go rock pooling, snorkelling, perhaps even scuba-diving.

And then one day, get on to studying marine biology.

But really, we need you, so get on out there and do it.

All the best from me, Stevie B.

Back at the marine station,

the rookies and Alex join Richard examining the samples

from the Falcon Spirit,

looking for plastic, not so fantastic.

We've definitely got some pieces that don't look very natural.

So, this certainly looks a bit unusual.

Any thoughts as to what that might have been originally, Ella?

Maybe it could have been a strand of a bag.

Strand of a bag, perhaps a strand of a rope, maybe.

This piece looks pretty suspicious to me

as being a piece of polystyrene.

Its appearance could quite easily be confused for, let's say,

a round fish egg. So it's easy to imagine

how creatures can mistake some of this material

for the food they'd normally be eating.

Have you ever seen any marine life

that have got something stuck in their throat?

We've looked at fish, for example, from the English Channel,

near to Plymouth, and we've found plastic in about a third

of all of the fish that we looked at.

So quite a substantial number of individuals out in the

ocean are ingesting plastic.

So how long do you think the plastic that we found has been decomposing

-for?

-The polymer chemists, the plastic chemists, if you like,

that I work with, they tell me that all of the plastic we've ever made

is still with us on the planet

in a form that is too big to be biodegraded.

So we know it's very, very long-lived,

but exactly how long-lived,

we are still speculating.

It's going to be hundreds, perhaps thousands,

maybe even longer, of years.

I think this assignment went really well,

and it was really interesting about all the sea creatures.

And how they can eat all the fragments of plastic.

My favourite part of the assignment was getting to put the manta net in

the water, I thought that was a great experience.

And it was just amazing to see all the tiny particles that we caught in

-the net.

-So, Ella, I was really impressed with you.

I think you are definitely a marine biologist in the making.

One of the things I was keen to look for was your ability

to make accurate notes. You even put down the start time for the trawl,

and the finish time, which is excellent.

And so, Struan, I certainly think you've got the potential to be

a great marine biologist, if that's the way you want to go.

You were really, really good looking through the samples.

Well, that was a brilliant start, wasn't it?

But you guys have done quite a bit of dive training, haven't you?

And don't you think it's time we got into the water?

It doesn't look very inviting, does it?

-No, not really.

-Wouldn't you rather go somewhere a bit warmer?

-Yes.

-Well, that's lucky, because we are going to be going to the Med.

Oh!

Ella and Struan have both been working hard

to get their scuba-diving qualification,

but they don't know what for.

Well, they are about to find out as we whisk them off to the island of

Malta in the Mediterranean.

Professor Alan Deidun

is from the University of Malta,

a dedicated and tireless champion of the sea.

As well as his conservation work,

he spends much of his leisure time

in the sea, diving and kayaking.

So, Alan, you've just literally got out of the sea,

you've been down there looking at marine life.

Can you give us your three top tips for becoming a marine biologist?

I would say number one, you need to be perseverant,

because sometimes the right opportunities might be hard to get.

The second point, you really need to be a good observer.

And thirdly, there are some phenomenons,

some processes which we don't completely understand.

Why are some species booming whilst other species are disappearing?

So you need to think outside the box.

Alan's top tips are...

Sometimes opportunities in marine biology are hard to come by.

Why are some species booming and others not?

What's your favourite species in this area?

If I had to pick a fish, I would say it's one of the wrasse species,

because they are very, very colourful.

But if I had to pick a non-fish, it would have to be a jellyfish

since they are living proof that you can survive without having any

brains. They've been around for 600, 700 million years.

So what assignment have you got in store for our rookies?

We will go underwater, as I promised,

we will have a list of the 12 most common species of fish

in our waters.

And you will have pictures of these guys with you,

and you will take notes.

So, yes, even underwater, we can have a classroom.

-Let's get cracking.

-Sure, let's go.

So, guys, this is what we are looking at.

These are the 12 fish species which we have for you,

and you're going to help us in our underwater survey.

Alan is showing the rookies the 12 species of fish they will be looking

for in the survey,

from the colourful parrotfish to the Mediterranean rainbow wrasse.

The rookies need to do a bit of studying, then,

basically and then they'll be ready to go?

-Yes.

-All right, get studying.

The survey the rookies will be doing is carried out between two and four

times a year. The sea, like all living systems,

is in a state of constant change.

It's important to monitor these changes and analyse the results.

This isn't a leisure dive for the rookies,

it has a really important scientific purpose.

It's splash time for Struan and Ella

as they take a step into the unknown.

That's the diving sign for OK from Alan.

Alex seems to be at home underwater.

It's a painted comber.

This little guy was on the list from earlier.

Oh, look, a bearded fire worm.

Hi, Ella!

Looks like there are plenty of species for the rookies to identify.

The rookies are swimming through an amazing underwater passage.

Exciting.

Absolutely amazing. What a great experience, that was awesome.

It's brilliant. Because there was so much coral down there.

It was so cool.

I think I saw a parrotfish, a Mediterranean parrotfish.

And it is so colourful, it was absolutely amazing.

I actually missed some of the stuff myself,

and they were pointing me to it, so I think, overall,

I think they did very well.

Hi, guys, the Blowfish here,

the world's only heavy metal marine biologist.

And these are my three top tips on how to become

an amazing marine biologist.

Tip number one...

Why not try to learn to dive,

or even just get used to using a snorkel?

Tip number two...

It doesn't have to be just fish, it can be any kind of animal,

but it will give you great confidence

when you get into the industry proper.

Tip number three...

We may not live in Rome,

but we do use Latin to describe all the species

you'll find in the world's oceans.

So, guys, we are back on dry land.

So I suggest, before we start forgetting,

we go through quickly the species of fish that we've seen.

I think I saw quite a few of these ones.

-The salema.

-I think we saw a few of the Mediterranean parrotfish.

For sure. They are pretty colourful,

you cannot mistake them for anything else.

I think we saw some of the sea bream as well.

Exactly, exactly.

And I think we saw some of the peacock wrasse.

Exactly, as well, yes.

I think wrasses were pretty common as well.

Out of 12 species, we've practically seen all of these guys.

So why did we do this survey?

Fish, like all other marine organisms,

are very sensitive to changes.

So there is a lot of changes going on and a lot of pressures

to which our seas are being subjected.

So you've got things like climate change,

which is not only affecting our land, but also our sea.

Our seas are warming up.

So we monitor fish over a long time

to see if there's any changes in the fish communities

as a result of human change.

My favourite part of the assignment was probably getting so close to all

the fish in the ocean. I think it was great to see all the different

species and get to learn about them as well.

My favourite part was probably going through the tunnel.

Because there were loads of fish and it was like going through a sunken

-ship.

-Struan, you are a good diver, you are a sharp observer as well.

Ella, obviously you need to work a bit on the diving skills,

but you managed to spot most of the species we had on the card today.

We are at the Maltese International Aquarium.

OK, we've got one final assignment.

Now, just remind me, Ella,

what are the animals you said you definitely didn't want to see?

-Sharks.

-Sharks, that's right, yes.

OK, well, this assignment...

..is all about sharks.

-Oh.

-Yeah, but don't worry,

I'm pretty sure it's going to change the way you feel about sharks

altogether. Because we are going to be giving some of them the chance of

life after death.

Greg Nowell is the co-founder

of Shark Lab Malta.

Shark Lab was founded to establish

which shark species are in need of

protection and management,

to ensure their long-term survival.

Here in this tank, we have two different species of sharks.

Now, the species of sharks are actually developed inside eggs.

And we as an organisation go to the fish market

in the early hours of the morning

and recover the eggs from landed female sharks which are dead.

We take out the eggs, we place them into an aquarium.

And after six months of feeding and growing,

we release them back into the sea.

So the first part of your task is to help us identify which female sharks

have eggs and how we go about finding them.

Then you're going to help us open up the sharks and take out some eggs.

But not only that, there's something else.

We are going to collect two sharks which have gone through that whole

cycle here at the aquarium,

and we are going to release them into the sea.

-Wow.

-Wow.

Now the rookies are at a crucial part of the operation.

They are about to help Greg remove some living eggs from some sharks

that were caught in fishing nets.

So here we are in the laboratory.

Greg explains to Struan and Ella how to look for the eggs.

You try this one. And see if you can feel anything hard inside.

Something there.

There's something there. And what about on the other side?

-Something about there.

-There's something about there as well?

There's something there.

Something there. So, what we need

is a little preparation.

Greg gently and skilfully cuts the shark open to reveal

what they are looking for.

And here we have...

a shark egg case.

So that is a dead shark,

and within that casing could be

a living embryo that could turn into a living shark?

Exactly, exactly.

We can see inside

a really nice, perfectly formed egg sitting inside its protective case.

So will this increase the shark population by doing this process?

We hope so. We hope so.

If not, at least try and keep it stable.

So let's help you a little bit,

cos you need to make sure your fingers stay away from the knife.

So if you hold on to the side here,

and then you want to cut.

They're quite tough, so you need to cut, cut.

Like a little saw. That's perfect. And stop.

And you're going to put the knife underneath here.

And very gently cut through.

Perfect, you have just removed the egg case from a shark.

Excellent.

Next up, it's Struan's turn to remove a shark egg case.

Backwards. Perfect.

How is that? How does that feel to pull a living egg case out of a dead

-fish?

-It's really amazing, yes.

Now, Ella, like a lot of people, is frightened of sharks.

Should we be frightened of them?

Not really, no. There are over 500 different species of sharks.

The species of sharks we are dealing with here are actually only small

species. They are completely harmless to people.

Although there are some species which are potentially dangerous

to people, if you start to learn more about them,

start to understand them,

than actually the fear starts to subside and more of a fascination

tends to appear. Place your hand right underneath the net.

You can reach down. Hand underneath.

The rookies gently scoop a couple of sharks into boxes,

ready for their release.

OK, so lift it up, lift it up.

It looks like Ella's fear of sharks may be a thing of the past.

And into we go.

Do we have two sharks in the box?

-Yes.

-We have two sharks in the box.

Marine biology walks hand-in-hand with marine conservation.

We humans are one of the biggest problems for marine environments.

Overfishing, pollution and climate change wreak havoc across the seas.

Everyone can make a difference by making small changes,

like using less plastic.

Use cloth bags instead of poly, use reusable bottles,

and eat sustainable fish to protect valuable stocks.

The less that goes into the sea that doesn't belong there,

the happier the dolphins.

This is St Pauls Bay near the Maltese National Aquarium.

Two lucky sharks are about to be released into the ocean.

Greg and his colleagues have the sharks safely in boxes,

and Struan and Ella are snorkelling on the surface to get a grandstand

view of the release.

And there they go,

two young sharks are about to make their way in the big wide ocean.

Two sharks in the sea.

Yes! Woohoo!

The sharks seemed pleased to be on their way.

In a year, the sharks that will hatch from Struan and Ella's eggs

will be released like this, too.

The best part was probably actually

going out and seeing all the sharks

go to freedom.

I think this assignment was the best out of all of them

because we got to help endangered sharks,

and I think it was incredible to get so close to the sharks in the ocean,

and all the other fish as well. It was great.

I think sharks aren't that scary.

I love sharks now.

So, Struan, you've done a fantastic job.

You recovered the eggs really well,

you managed to identify the shark which had eggs.

Ella, you did some fantastic questioning,

really asking some really detailed things.

You even managed to take out eggs from a shark,

which hopefully in a year's time we will be able to release

back into the sea around Malta.

You've done a fantastic job, really well done.

Our rookies have had a marvellous marine adventure -

collecting seawater samples, diving in the Med, and saving sharks.

But have they got what it takes to make it as marine biologists?

So, Ella, I was really impressed with you throughout the day,

you asked some really, really good questions.

I certainly think you've got the potential to be a marine biologist.

Ella, I was very much impressed by your enthusiasm.

So I am very confident you've got everything it takes

to be a very good marine biologist one day.

Ella, you really challenged me with some detailed questions.

You obviously have what it takes to start investigating things.

I think you are really going to make a great marine biologist.

Struan, you showed a real amount of enthusiasm during the day,

particularly on the boat.

And you asked some fantastic questions as well,

so follow your dreams and make it happen.

Struan, I was impressed by your in-depth knowledge

about marine biology.

It shows that you've read and prepared yourself before the dive.

So, again, I believe that you've got everything in place to be an

excellent marine biologist one day.

Struan, you had a fantastic time,

you asked some really fantastic questions.

I really think you can make it as a marine biologist.

Now, you realise now that marine biology isn't all about riding

on the backs of dolphins and playing with turtles.

It's not all about exotic locations like this one.

It's hard work. So, Ella, do you still want to be a marine biologist?

I definitely still want to be a marine biologist.

-Are you sure?

-Yes.

-Struan, what about you?

-Yes, I do.

Now that I've learned more information,

it's made me want to aspire to do even more.

Well, you know what, that's really good to hear.

But now the bad news.

Unfortunately, we've got no way of getting back to the UK.

So it's lucky that we've got our wet suits on,

because we are going to have to swim!

It's only about 1,500 miles.

Come on, last one in the water is a monkey shark.

Come on! SCARY MUSIC

-Alex, watch out.

-HE SCREAMS