Erin Ashe

I’m the kind of scientist who asks and answers conservation and research questions that are not being asked, that advance our knowledge about the natural world, and that identify strategies for protecting it. I study wide-ranging, wild animals, usually on a small budget and in a small boat, but I solve these challenges by following the “Pony Club way” to marine conservation. I’ve had the great fortune of working on various whale and dolphin studies in Patagonia, Antarctica, Hawaii and in the basement of the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle. Each one taught me something new. In 2007, I completed my masters degree at the University of St Andrews. But my interest in these animals was triggered many years ago. When I was four, my aunt used to wake me up in the middle of the night to stand on her balcony and listen to the sound of killer whales (orcas) breathing and splashing in the waters below her home on San Juan Island. I love that I published my first paper on the killer whales in my aunt’s front yard. Now I’m a PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews (Scotland). My current work is primarily focused on assessing the population health of Pacific white-sided dolphins in the Pacific Northwest, through photographs (more on this here). I can’t imagine running out of questions to ask about these fascinating dolphins.