BECKYHITCHIN
Science and the Sea
Meet Becky Hitchin , SCUBA ’ s new science writer . We asked Becky to introduce herself and explain her background in scientific diving
Hello ! My name is Becky Hitchin . I live and work on the east coast of Scotland , with a cat who loves rock pooling and a dog who tries to dive . Some of you may know me from Seasearch , some from being part of the diving community of nudibranch obsessives , and maybe some of the equally obsessive diving community known as macro photographers .
But if you don ’ t , here ’ s a potted history . My first experience of the sea was being taken to Margate on holiday as a very small child . I loved it , until I walked into the water and discovered that seaweed wraps itself round your legs . Traumatic , for a two-year old . All was forgiven by the time I was eight or so , when I discovered orcas .
From that day onwards , I was quite determined to become a marine biologist . That decision stayed firm , and I ended up going to university to study marine biology , where I discovered that going out on research surveys and getting immeasurably seasick are not a pretty combination , that actually I wasn ’ t really interested in whales and dolphins , and that I now loved seaweed , barnacles and foraminifera ( a type of tiny creature with beautiful and intricate shells common in our seas , beaches and salt marshes ).
I became really interested in palaeontology and evolution , and after my degree I went to do a PhD looking at the evolution of fish . I studied mass extinctions , spending some months in Greenland collecting fossils and making friends with musk ox and Arctic foxes ( they enjoy sardines ).
One of Becky ’ s favourite places , the Cemetery site in Loch Leven
As happens to most PhD students , I eventually found myself with a doctorate and no real idea what to do next . I worked as a marine scientist for a while in the Philippines ; devoted some time for the Wildlife Trusts and an oil and gas consultancy , and eventually came to Scotland to work in nature conservation in the UK ’ s offshore waters .
While there , I worked mainly with windfarms , oil and gas and other industries , as well as being involved in ( Marine Protected Area ) MPA monitoring and designations – including the diverdriven designation of the Lochcarron MPA . I focussed on understanding industry impact to ocean quahog [ a big burrowing bivalve , living to 500 years or more ], and underwater sandbanks , and a strange little worm called Sabellaria that creates
enormous reefs both underwater and on UK beaches .
Through the years I became drawn into the strange and fascinating world of the potential industry of deepsea mining , and became involved in the global work on developing environmental regulations for that industry . Last year , I moved to work for the Commonwealth , continuing to work on environmental assessment of deep-sea mining , but also within their Blue Charter team , providing countries with environmental expertise on such things as sea level rise , the blue economy , coral reefs , mangroves and ocean observation .
Somewhere along the lines , I discovered nudibranchs , and soon ended up spending most of my diving looking for smaller and smaller ones , and getting involved with nudibranch safaris in the UK and Norway . So you can certainly expect nudis to feature every now and then in my columns .
What else ? My favourite places to dive – both the wonderful peat-stained underwater world of the Scottish sea lochs and the clear Atlantic waters of the Scottish north west coast . I ’ m passionate about wider marine issues as well , such as the impacts of increasing levels of noise in the sea ; how our seas – and lives – are adapting to climate change and sea level rise ; how scientific diving is helping to unravel increasingly detailed questions about how our seas protect the planet .
Not least , I want to address some of the deep and meaningful questions we divers all have , such as why-oh-why do scientists insist on everyone using unpronounceable Latin names ? And why do they change those unpronounceable names every few years , just when everyone has got used to the previous one ?
So that ’ s me . See you next month ! �
23