[jaymz101]

Run while you still can!! Im a field biologist for the state of Florida. I pull nets, count fish, kill fish, collect samples, enter data, proof data, re enter data, fill out paperwork, fix boats, fix engines, fix nets, fix anything else, deal with a huge beurocracy, will probably have skin cancer from the daily sun burns in the next 5 years, am thoroughly unappreciated, and ignored by superiors and PhD's alike. I do all of this for a measly 30 Gs a year. Ill say it again. Run. Run hard. Run long. Run fast. Yes I get to see alot of interesting stuff, but nothing is worth what I go through on a daily basis.

By the way Sea World pays less than the State does. So does Disney, and every aquarium Ive ever applied to.

If I was in it for the money, I would have done something else. On the other hand, I do get to live in Florida and Im on the water almost every other day.

Most State wildlife institutions are severely underfunded and focus on enforcement, not science. What little money there is for science is under a constant threat of being cut by the legislature either to appease republican voters by shrinking govrnment or to appease democrat voters by giving the money to the cause of the day, and any extra money coming in needs their approval to be spent. (That means I need an act of friggin' congress to get a raise)



Im not bitter though. I know everythiong I just said sounds a bit harsh. It was meant to. In my experience most students entering Marine Biology fields in college want to play with Flipper or dive on coral reefs day in and day out. Colleges promote those glorious few (and I mean very few) who can say they do that every day to get your (or your parents) money. Most Marine Biology programs suffer a 50% attrition rate in the freshman year and end up gradyating something like 25% of the entering freshman class in a mariune biology field. Be realistic. Marine Biology is a hard, dirty, strenuous job for most of us.

If what I said didnt scare you off immediately, you might have the heart it takes to be a net monkey, tank cleaner, fish wrestler, or whatever. Get an internship. Go do whatever it is that you think you want to do in the field. That is the best advice anyone can give you. Talk with the folks you work with day in and day out and you'll get a better picture about marine biology that you can get in any flier of forum.