Career in Marine conservation/outdoors

[scrappydappydoo]

Sorry wasn’t sure what topic to post this in so I’ll plonk it here.
DD is yr9 - starting the whole gcse options thing so she is constantly talking about her future. She is very interested in a career in marine conservation or something outdoorsy (says she couldn’t bear the thought of sitting in an office all day).
I’d like to encourage her interest and help her explore what these jobs entail but we live at least 1hr from the coast (south) and local conservation groups seem to focus on little kids (pond dipping etc) and only seem to allow over 18’s to volunteer.
Can anyone point me in the right direction so I can point her in the same direction - I was thinking volunteer opportunities (maybe residential?) or even charities or organisations who work inland maybe rivers or lakes? Or even better does anyone work in marine conservation who can share what they do and different types of jobs available. I’m completely clueless as I work in the dreaded office environment..

I don’t know if this might help: www.mcsuk.org/.

Marine conservation is a very competitive field but a very rewarding one. It is also one of those fields that as you get into it, you discover many roles that you may not have thought of. For example you may go to university and picture yourself scuba diving etc (some people do end up doing this) but there are also lots of opportunities in research, consultancy, law... The list goes on. At this stage my advice would be to try as many different things in different environments as possible - buy a shore ID guide and spend an afternoon looking at what species exist there, read the natural sciences sections of the newspapers, see if you can volunteer at a wetlands centre/museum etc. Are there some charities that might be attending events near you that you could get involved in such as RSPB? Have a look at some citizen science projects that she could get involved in independently. Even if not specifically marine environment, if it's related to ecology it's useful!

FWIW I did Ecology at a marine specialist university followed by marine ecology postgraduate study, and now work in research. My taxa and environment of interest has changed from job to job, but the core skills of understanding how organisms exist alongside one another remains throughout. Maths is probably the A Level that will be most useful.

Hope that helps! Good luck to your DD.

Could you contact some natural history departments in local museums and ask to have a look round? In my experience they are always enthusiastic and will say yes! Sorry have re-read your post and have seen you live far from the coast - perhaps a bird guide would be useful to look at what birds there are in your local area. A very niche (but so lovely and rewarding) skill is bird ringing - if she's interested you will find a list of trainers on the BTO website that might take her out for a session with a view to training her up.

Plenty of volunteer opportunities with the Canal and River Trust.

Is it specifically marine she wants to do? She would be able to get good transferable ecology skills from citizen scientist projects with any of the following
Btcv
Local rivers trust
Local wildlife trust
RSPB
National trust

Ooh lots of leads to follow up - thanks all.

Also, does her school set up work experience at any point? I know not all schools do. She could see if she could get something at a conservation group. Or natural england/environment agency/local environmental consultancy.

It's incredibly competitive...I have a marine biology degree and work in real estate. Most of my peers either teach or lecture. The money isn't good either.

Conservation and research also often mean long periods away too.

Don't want to be the doomsayer but she needs to be aware of all outcomes!

Thanks everyone this actually very helpful - it’s the realistic point of view we need! The internet is filled with glam locations, people saving the world and amazing underwater photos but it’s difficult to look through that into the reality!

Some other potential leads-
-Rspb do residential volunteering with free accommodation provided, from 16 in some places I believe.
-Marine conservation society
-Conservation Careers website has a lot of good advice on the different career pathways in conservation, and how to get there
-A focus on Nature is a UK network for young people interested in conservation

The conservation sector is indeed very competitive- I work in an office-based research position in a (non-marine) conservation charity and we typically have a LOT of applications for entry-level positions in the team, and those who get jobs are generally those who have a very good academic background in biology/conservation (at least a master's), plus a good background knowledge/experience usually obtained partly through relevant volunteering. Quite a lot of applicants have done overseas (often paid-for) volunteering, often with turtles, but we're more interested in how relevant the experience is to the job than where it took place (although probably experience with turtles would be looked upon more favourably for a marine conservation position!). But the sort of role I do is one of the most competitive in the sector, and there is a big diversity of jobs in conservation - project management, policy, practical jobs on nature reserves (for which practical skills and qualifications in habitat management can be really useful), ecological consultancy (ID skills required), communications, database management, fundraising, ecotourism, etc! Some of those jobs are less competitive because not so many people aiming for the conservation sector have those skills.

I'm nodding along to Conservationist's post. My outdoorsy DD is not in the marine sector but she is an Ecologist, and she did all of the things mentioned: first degree in Biology, masters in Ecology, volunteering in UK and abroad, working for peanuts abroad. Within Ecology there are many specialist areas - hers is mammals, but she has colleagues specialising in birds, marine, etc. She has worked for a micro-business, which was almost all outdoors work, but now works for a large consultancy, where her job is a roughly equal mix of project planning, fieldwork and number-crunching.

Do you have a local animal park of any kind? Most will do some kind of "outreach" activities for the local community, and the are bound to have a fishy section surely?