The life aquatic: What it’s like to work as a marine park ranger in SA

Learn about what she does in her role every­day, and what inspires her to con­tin­ue work­ing in this field.

How long have you been in the role, and how did you get here?

I stud­ied a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in marine biol­o­gy at Flinders Uni­ver­si­ty and then went on to do hon­ours. From there I wasn’t too sure which path to take, but even­tu­al­ly decid­ed to under­take a PhD in Dol­phin Ecology. 

Once that was sub­mit­ted, an oppor­tu­ni­ty came up to work in the NPWS marine parks team. I was for­tu­nate to get the role, but fun­ny enough at the time I had nev­er realised that it was actu­al­ly my dream job. Nine years lat­er — and I haven’t looked back!

What areas are you in charge of keep­ing an eye on?

My team and I man­age two large marine parks, the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary and Encounter Marine Park. Encounter Marine Park starts at Port Stan­vac and runs the whole way along the Fleurieu Penin­su­la, across to north- east­ern Kan­ga­roo Island and over to the Coorong. We are also respon­si­ble for any marine mam­mal inci­dents that occur between these parks, along the Ade­laide met­ro­pol­i­tan coast. 

What does a typ­i­cal day look like for your on the job?

There real­ly isn’t a typ­i­cal day when you work as a marine ranger. 

The role can be very reac­tive at times, so you nev­er know where each day may take you. I love being out in the field, so I try to get out and about as much as pos­si­ble to under­take patrols with­in our two parks. We under­take patrols by boat or from shore to make sure peo­ple aren’t fish­ing in marine park sanc­tu­ary zones or breach­ing the marine mam­mal regulations. 

We may get called out to inspect sick or injured marine wildlife, so in those instances we gen­er­al­ly drop what­ev­er else we are doing to go attend. 

If I’m not out in the field you can usu­al­ly find me in Port Ade­laide where our office is based. This is where I get all my admin done, includ­ing meet­ings, emails, expi­a­tions etc. 

Why are marine parks important?

Marine parks are impor­tant for con­serv­ing and pro­tect­ing our marine bio­di­ver­si­ty for gen­er­a­tions to come. In South Aus­tralia, marine parks are made up of dif­fer­ent types of zones, each with its own lev­el of protection. 

Marine Park Sanc­tu­ary Zones offer one of the high­est lev­els of pro­tec­tion, in the same way that Nation­al Parks on land do. You can vis­it and enjoy sanc­tu­ary zones, that is go div­ing or sight­see­ing etc, but all forms of fish­ing and har­vest­ing are pro­hib­it­ed. By not fish­ing in sanc­tu­ary zones we can help pro­tect impor­tant habi­tats, marine species, breed­ing grounds and impor­tant refuge areas.

What is your favourite thing about your role?

My favourite part of my job is being out in the field, espe­cial­ly out on the water on a calm sum­mer day! I love being out look­ing for wildlife and observ­ing their behav­iours, and no mat­ter how many times I do it, I could nev­er get tired of sight­see­ing along our beau­ti­ful coast. 

What tips do you have for those who dream of becom­ing a marine park ranger?

I would sug­gest peo­ple get as much expe­ri­ence as pos­si­ble, and a great way to gain this expe­ri­ence is to vol­un­teer either through local Friends of Parks groups, or by apply­ing to become a vol­un­teer ranger through the Department’s vol­un­teer ranger pro­gram.

Obvi­ous­ly a sci­ence degree in marine biol­o­gy or envi­ron­men­tal stud­ies will help, and I’d def­i­nite­ly rec­om­mend get­ting your com­mer­cial boat license.

What are three things peo­ple might not know about marine parks?

1. South Aus­tralia has 20 marine parks includ­ing the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary
2. Sanc­tu­ary zone bound­ary infor­ma­tion is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble and mapped on the PIR­SASA Fish­ing phone app.
3. Encounter marine park has some of the high­est diver­si­ties of small sea crea­tures (macroin­ver­te­brates) across SA’s marine parks

What can peo­ple do to help pro­tect marine parks?

Learn about them, respect them, and of course enjoy them. If you fish, one of the best ways to help pro­tect marine parks is to learn where the sanc­tu­ary zones are and avoid fish­ing them. Tell your fish­ing bud­dies too. 

If you snorkel or dive, make sure you do so in our marine parks and sanc­tu­ary zones, so you can see first­hand the amaz­ing and unique ecosys­tems that we are try­ing to pro­tect. And to all the par­ents- teach your lit­tle ones about marine parks, and if you’re able to go on a trip to explore them, do so! They’ll be the future advo­cates for our envi­ron­ment (you can’t pro­tect what you don’t know!). 

Park of the Month

Through­out Decem­ber, Marine Parks are being cel­e­brat­ed as the Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice South Australia’s Park of the Month. There are lots of events and activ­i­ties to get involved in – check the web­site for all the details.

Want to learn more about the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanctuary? 

Check out 20 facts for 20 years of the Ade­laide Dol­phin Sanc­tu­ary.

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