The Marine Ecology Podcast
The Marine Ecology Podcast
Podcast Description
Conversations with leading experts on marine ecology and conservation. This podcast covers groundbreaking research on the past, present, and future of marine life on our planet, as well as the lives and perspectives of the amazing people at the forefront of the field.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
Explores significant topics in marine ecology such as the impacts of offshore drilling, the shark fin trade, and the role of grassroots activism, with episodes featuring in-depth discussions like the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act and personal stories from experts like Brady Bradshaw, highlighting the interplay between marine life and human influence.
Conversations with leading experts on marine ecology and conservation. This podcast covers groundbreaking research on the past, present, and future of marine life on our planet, as well as the lives and perspectives of the amazing people at the forefront of the field.
Today I will be speaking with award-winning documentary filmmaker and marine scientist, Natasha Benjamin.
Over the last 25 years, Natasha has led a unique career spanning the marine sciences, conservation policy, and filmmaking. She worked at MARE from 2018 to 2022 where she oversaw an ecological monitoring program within the California MPA network, and directed their Deep Sea Education Program.
Natasha currently serves as the Associate Director of Blue Frontier, a grassroots conservationist organization which seeks to spread scientific ideas related to sea life and conservation through books, films, and countless nationally published articles.
Her most recent film, “Sequoias of the Sea,” which will be a major focus of this conversation, is one of these projects. The film won the Environment Award at its premier at the 22nd International Ocean Film Festival in San Francisco, California, on April 13, and will be touring cities up and down the West Coast in the coming months.
“Sequoias of the Sea” tells the story of a small town on the Mendocino coast as its marine ecosystems experienced a sudden decimation in healthy kelp forest habitat as triggered by disease outbreak among a key apex predator, the sunflower seastar, and exacerbated by coinciding temperature anomaly events known as marine heatwaves. “Sequoias of the Sea” elucidates the nuances of the ecological phenomena at play, and offers viewers the chance to see how this ecological disaster has made waves in many different cross sections of society, from professional divers, to indigenous tribal communities. It leaves us with the question: what’s next for these immensely productive and globally significant ecosystems?
Give it up for Natasha Benjamin.
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