Science communication is essential work

The morning after the election, I felt like many of you felt and continue to feel - disappointed. Scared. Anxious about what the future holds for my friends, family, community, the earth, and not least of all for myself.

As a way to distract myself from running catastrophic scenarios in my head, I decided to check what the seminar was at the Hatfield Marine Science Center that afternoon.

This moment felt like kismet: lo and behold, the speaker that day was none other than Marley Parker, a fellow marine science communicator, giving her talk "Fair Weather, Following Seas, Fantastic Science: Producing Compelling Stories to Promote Ocean Research".

My mind immediately shifted out of a doomsday mentality. Instead I was excited about the opportunity that was at my door.

Marley is a professional photographer, videographer, science writer, and ocean explorer. She has developed a niche in documenting and creating content for research cruises with various institutions such as Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and Oregon State University.

Marley Parker is a seafaring photographer, video producer, and science writer.

I went to Marley's wonderful talk, introduced myself, and we made plans to get coffee the next morning.

We discussed her unconventional career path, from leaving her 9-5 doing communication work for the University of North Carolina to go on a research expedition in Antarctica, to her multiple research cruises on esteemed research vessels like the E/V Nautilus, documenting the successful deployment of the HOV Alvin.

Marley immediately proved to be a wonderful mentor, giving me valuable feedback and advice on my website, how to expand my network, and alerting me to professional development opportunities in the near future. She was supportive and encouraging, and I knew I made a crucial contact in this new and unusual career path known as science communication.

Because looking ahead, science communication will be more important than ever. We have been through this song and dance before. We witnessed the havoc that distrust in science unleashes. This was true for public health, climate science, and can be true for marine science as well, including fisheries science and management.

My goal is to help the general public understand the decisions that are being made with our natural resources. With my background in fisheries, I aim to clarify the many layers of acronyms, jargon, and regulatory language so that concerned citizens can trust experts to do their jobs, and voice their concerns when needed.

As I've told many friends and family, my mantra isn't "we're going to be ok". It's "we're going to get through this". And to help us all get through this, I will be one of the many science communicators in the near future making sure scientists' work is seen, heard, and most importantly, understood.

Brianna Bowman is helping you understand fisheries science and management, one fish and meta-acronym at a time.