Alexandra Morton, 2010 Women of Discovery Sea Award

"Do not sweat the small stuff, save your energy for the big stuff and keep your voice low and calm, because society has a built-in off-switch for shrill women." — Alexandra Hubbard Morton

Biologist

Born: 1957-07-13

Hometown: Lakeville, CT

Education: BSc. in Biology

Achievements

Discoveries: Pacific white-sided dolphins are not invaders to British Columbia, but in fact have been here before because their bones are in the Native middens.

Expeditions: Twenty-five years in a remote archipelago in British Columbia, Canada

Biography

Alexandra Morton went to British Columbia, Canada in 1979 to find a specific pod of killer whales. She was studying sound production in a pair of whales in a California oceanarium and every pod uses a unique dialect. Alexandra found a remote floating, wilderness community called Echo Bay - the perfect place to study whales and raise her son. Her work was the first to follow killer whales (orca) throughout the winter months to better understand their life history. She also documented the arrival and adaptation of pelagic Pacific white-sided to the inlet waters of Echo Bay. In 1987, industrial salmon farms moved into the area and within a few years significant issues in disease amplification, whale displacement and algae blooms became apparent. In time, Morton realized no one was doing the science required to by managers to effectively regulate the industry. She began this highly controversial work herself with no funding. She opened her home to other scientists to facilitate and accelerate the crucial research on this issue as wild salmon stocks began to collapse under the increased pathogen load triggered by the unnatural farm salmon populations. She turned her home into the Salmon Coast Field Station (www.salmoncoast.org) offering facilities at cost. Publishing in one of the world's top scientific journals, SCIENCE, was not enough, so she took the fish farmers and government to British Columbia Supreme Court and won. This consolidated regulation within one agency and today she is pursuing further legal actions to inspire law enforcement. Although Alexandra Morton planned a quiet obscure life studying communication between one of earth's largest-brained animals, she is now committed to educating people about the biological power cords that link essential earth ecosystems to provide the energy required by all living organisms. Salmon link the energy created by sunlight hitting open ocean waters and nutrient consuming watersheds deep within British Columbia. Morton believes humanity must learn to work with the natural powerhouses of this planet, instead of against. She sees biologists as the fingertips of society and the challenge is communicating across an ever-widening gap between the natural systems we depend on and humanity's perception that nature is a luxury item needed only for vacations.

Fun Facts

Favorite Item to have in the field: Really good socks

Heroes: Jane Goodall

Publications

Beak of the Finch