Jobs for marine biologists?

I'm a biology/marine biology student and I'm going off to UCSC this fall as a junior. I plan on going to graduate school as well. I am interested in marine biology with a particular interest in cnidarians (mostly anthozoa) as well as ichtyology or really anything but microplankton. Lately ive been leaning towards ichtyology as it seems more practical. Focusing on cnidarians seems like a harder field to enter. I don't really want to get into biochem (I don't want to take physical chemistry!  ) so I'm having trouble thinking of real-world applications.

So those of you who are marine biologists (i know that at least the moderator here is), what fields do you suggest looking into? What fields do you see the most demand for under a marine biology major?

Let's see... there are really two aspects to you question to address.  First fields of study and secondly careers to persue afterwards.

Fields of study... marine biology, marine ecology, fisheries biology, biological oceanography, and marine policy are all options.  I'm guessing the marine policy option isn't up you alley which is probably too bad because that's where many of the jobs are.  Fisheries biology studies, well fisheries and a lot of it has to do with stock assessment and management and is mostly an applied science.

Marine Biology tends to study organisms and how they tick (physiology, anatomy, development)..  A marine biologist tends to specialize in a particular taxa like anthozoa and learns a lot about its biology.

Marine Ecology studies organisms and the interactions with other organsisms and the environment.  The emphasis tends to be ion the interaactions rather than the organisms themselves.  Things like predator-prey, symbiosis, parasitism, invasive species, etc...   A marine ecologist will study any organism that helps them understand the process (interaction) they are interested in.

Finally Biological Oceanography tends to study oraganisms in so much as they help understand how the ocean as whole works.  Topics in biological oceanography include things like studying how currents influence larval fish distributions, how dying phytoplankton slowly falling through the ocean as marine snow is the major energy source for deep sea organisms...etc..  A biological oceanography will use an oceanographic process using whatever organism(s) will help.

BTW, biological oceanographers tend to get the most grant money or the bunch.  Hot topics seem to change all the time.  My personal cash cow is the study of marine invasive species which is a subset of marine ecology although my training was more biological oceanography.    Marine biology can have some real world applications and there are lots of research being done in potential pharmacutical applicaitons of marine organisms. 

Do you plan to go into academia and become a research professor?  Make your living writing grants to get money to pay graduate students to do your research for you.  It's a tough life, but you have the freedom to determine the direction of your research and study what interests you.

You can do as I did and work for a government agency.  Less worry about getting grants but also less freedom on what I study. 

You could work for a consulting agency and have almost no freedom to study what you want, rather you simply rake in the money studing what others what you too.


Then there is the decsion to get a PhD or a Master's degree.  A PhD will make more money, and have more independence but you run the risk of not being able to find a job.  A Master's degree will earn you less money, you'll probably work for someone else, but there are more jobs available to you.

If you want to get into graduate school, find a lab to work in .. take some independent credit by working in a professor's lab, volunteer if you have to, or if you're lucky they may like you and have some money to pay you.   Either way, get some research experience.  Work in different labs if you can to get a feel for things.   Good grades and GREs help, but recommendations, lab experience and a good personal statement go along way in helping you stand out from the rest of overachieving bio majors out there wanting to go to grad school.  And while you're at it, it doesn't hurt to go to grad school in a place completely different from where you did you undergrad.  The more people you can meet along the way the better.

Oh, and if you don't have fun along the way it probably isn't worth it so give up and become an investment banker, at least you'll have enough money to live off of.

Brian

Wow, thanks for the in-depth answer! I have a lot to think about there.

I'm not even sure I answered your question... I wrote that fairly late last night.  You really don't have to worry about most of that right now.  My advice at the end about volunteering in a lab (or mutliple labs if you have time) is probably the most relavent for you right now.  Talking to current graduate students in the lab you work in will be the most helpful.

Wow, did I earn a degree by just reading that.  Sounds like fun in school, but the real world application part sounds difficult.  What about Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Do they offer jobs for researchers?
Jason

Monterey Bay Aquarium would certianly have jobs for a marine scientist, although I'm not certain how often they have job openings. I imagine most of the jobs are for developing public outreach and keeping critters alive.  However, associated with the aquarium is MBARI (Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute)  http://www.mbari.org and they do some amazing marine research.  They're funded mostly from private foundation money (Packard Foundation) and have a mandate to develop the instruments and techniques to explore the deep ocean.   For many it's a dream job, where researchers can ask crazy questions and have an instrument developed to help them answer them.

I've actually had a tour through MBARI from an engineer who worked there and had an intro to biology (evolution and ecology) which was partially taught by 4 active scientists there. It's an amazing place but I think it would be a bad choice to get my hopes up of getting into a place like that. I've had guys at MBA tell me they need aquarists with actual experience though a degree would be beneficial on my application. I actually am a hobbyist aquarist on the side and have done the whole spectrum from full blown reef aquariums to raising african cichlids (which I still partially do). It's just scary to go into a field hoping to get into a few extremely selective sites but all your advice and ideas give me some good backups that make me feel a little more secure about commiting to it.