A famous and well-respected actor once said: "Follow your passion, the
rest [money, security] will follow."
It seems to be a very reasonable piece of advice, yet many times what a
person may be compelled to do simply doesn't make sense to their family
and friends. Brett Rowley understands the feeling. "I have a love of fish,
something very hard to explain to anybody that does not have it."
Rowley, a fish biologist, has been doing very interesting things with fish
since his childhood spent in Japan. He has worked on a small family fish farm
"where we produced over 30 species of warm-water fish and inverts mostly for
stocking into lakes and ponds." He has also managed hatchery operations and
fish production for a huge corporate catfish-producing farm, and managed a
large corporate fishing retreat.
His responsibilities have included virtually the whole range of roles that
an ichthyologist may be called upon to play, especially if they choose to
venture out in the applied science area as Rowley has. He has supervised as
many as 50 employees, designed and implemented fish farming techniques and
provided consulting services to fisheries.
While Rowley admits to "learning a lot about dealing in the corporate world"
from these experiences, it is his current work that is providing a great source
of satisfaction. He manages his own farm which spawns, hatches and rears the
fish, as well as boarding other people's fish. "I get a strong feeling
of accomplishment and sense of nearness to the creator."
Nadia Aubin-Horth just needed a little reminder to spark her desire to
pursue this career. "I was vaguely thinking about doing a BS [bachelor's
of science] in biology since high school to become an oceanographer. It was
a film that my biology teacher showed us where a biologist explained his job
and his research while standing with flies and mosquitoes turning around his
head that gave me the final sign that I was made to do a job like this. However,
my friend sitting beside me dropped the biology class after seeing what a
horrible job this was!"
Aubin-Horth currently does research, but she has also taught fish ecology
and planned and coordinated an experiment for North American scientists.
Her work experience has provided her with some valuable perspectives. "I
didn't like mathematics much. I didn't understand what I could do
with it as a biologist. To my surprise, I started to like working with mathematical
models and statistics when it was to understand fish. Youngsters should know
that even if they don't like some school subject, particularly math and
chemistry, work hard because it will probably lead to very interesting things
later."
Steven Norris, an ichthyologist at Miami University, also gets to be close
to nature. That nearness can be troubling: "I see tremendous destruction and
degradation of aquatic habitats when working in the field. I once traveled
quite some distance to visit a certain large creek in which once a rich diversity
of fishes had lived. We arrived and found the stream full of debris. There
were hardly any fish at all. The bottom was littered with mussels. They were
all dead, their shells gaping open to the sky."
Seeing this type of ecological destruction close up not only depresses
field workers, but also inspires them to continue their work. "I enjoy trying
to understand a glimpse of the magnificent complexity of the living world
and, more down to earth, to understand what we humans can do to keep it going
this way," says Aubin-Horth.
University of Minnesota ichthyologist Cheryl Murphy echoes Aubin-Horth's
feelings. "I love working to help create a better understanding of fishes
in general. If fish are appreciated, the environment they live in may also
be appreciated, which really can only help humans in the long run."