A ‘Day in the life’ of a Field Scientist
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I see young women becoming divers, fearlessly exploring the ocean and inspiring others to follow. The tide is turning. Women in my village are taking up space, not just at sea, but in leadership too.
In the marine world, even basic information like sex or age is hard to obtain from live animals. Strandings offer a rare opportunity to access this information, and post-mortems offer an even deeper dive into health, diet, pollutant exposure, past trauma, reproductive history, family connections, and more.
She was instantly recognizable for two reasons: unlike other fin whales that visit the area mainly in summer during their feeding season, she would lift her tail out of the water when diving. And most notably, of her two flukes, one was almost entirely missing. But that was only the beginning of the story of “Codamozza”.
Conservation was not just about protecting a species; it was about ensuring that people, nature, and livelihoods coexisted sustainably. From a single rescued dugong to a full-fledged government recognition program, from sceptical fishers to community-led conservation, and bare school walls now featuring paintings of dugongs in their ecosystems—this journey has shown me that even the smallest efforts can ripple into something remarkable.
In a world where community knowledge often goes undocumented, Purity is not just collecting data, she’s rewriting what the coastline looks like.