![]() Middle schoolers dreaming of becoming marine biologists was so common in my generation that it became a cliché. Surely, if interest from middle school students was the main cause of underrepresentation in MARMAM, we should at least be doing as well as the field of molecular biology (with its core concepts that are much harder to comprehend) in terms of diversity. Phil Clapham pins the crux of the issue on a lack of early exposure to science, yet marine mammals are undeniably charismatic and interesting to the public. ![]() Of all the disciplines in biology, ecology and evolution remains a sub-field with especially poor racial diversity (e.g. ![]() The expectation of unpaid work in marine mammal science actively discourages bright, passionate, and hardworking students, especially minorities, from reaching their potential and bringing valuable insights to our field. Here, I offer a perspective from a contemporary unpaid worker. I am reaching out in response to Phil Clapham and Paul Dayton, both of whom dismiss critical discussions to reform a system from which they continue to benefit, and who are biased by their interactions with success stories: like Eric Archer suggests, we do not hear from those who had to choose putting food on the table over contributing to a field they love. I have been disheartened by the status quo of unpaid experience in the field for several years. I am an early career scientist from an underrepresented minority who is currently an unpaid intern. I am posting this message on behalf of an ECR who wishes to remain anonymous. If you have thoughts you would like to share directly with the Board please feel free to email me at or contact our Diversity and Inclusion Committee co-chairs at. More information, including ideas for specific actions, will be coming soon. We best serve our community and the animals we study by being open to these discussions, self reflective about our roles and perspectives, and willing to evolve when necessary. This is how our marine mammal society will grow and advance – by asking hard, and oftentimes uncomfortable questions and taking necessary steps to improve. While across our community there may not be 100% agreement on the issues raised in the petition or some of the responses to it, I believe we should thank those who have started the discussion and those who have stepped up to respond. Our intent is for this to happen in mid-August. This will be a moderated online discussion that will be archived for future watching. To that end, we will soon host an online forum with a variety of participants and perspectives on this issue. One thing is certain though: one of the most positive actions we can take is to facilitate this dialog further and include our membership to the greatest extent possible. After this initial process we will work with our membership to find what action by the SMM is in our purview and could address this issue in a meaningful and responsible way. The Board is reviewing the online discussion and available literature, reaching out to a broader cohort of our community, and looking across other professional societies to see if and how they have addressed similar concerns. The SMM has just received the petition, and it will feed into the Board’s ongoing deliberations on this important and multifarious issue. This is an issue of “and” not “or” – it is both unpaid internships AND lack of access in early education (and so much more) that contribute to the struggle to achieve greater diversity in our field. Thankfully, the discussion has continued to grow in nuance with greater acknowledgment that the pipeline is broken in many places and each spot needs focused attention. The initial dialog on internships quickly moved to two perspectives: one being that unpaid internships were the barrier that needed addressing, and the other that a focus on underrepresented groups throughout the marine mammal science career pipeline was the necessary action. The challenge we face is finding agreement on what the ‘right’ course of action should be and which action should come first. We all agree that barriers to diversity and inclusiveness, where they exist, should be dismantled. At the core we all agree that our marine mammal community, and science in general, benefits from increased diversity. It is encouraging to see ongoing dialogue and the evolution of various positions as more voices and perspectives engage on the issue. I wanted to put out a quick update on behalf of the Society for Marine Mammalogy Board regarding the petition related to unpaid internships and the subsequent discussion on MARMAM and beyond. JUpdate Regarding Petition Related to Unpaid Internships by Charles Littnan
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