Ocean Science Radio

In 2019, there was exactly one Black member of the American Elasmobranch Society — the leading U.S. society for shark and ray researchers — out of 500. Then a single tweet during Black Birders Week changed everything.

Join us as we sit down with Jasmin Graham, President and CEO of Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS), the organization she and three other Black women scientists built from a viral tweet into a global community with members across four continents — launched just three weeks after that first message, timed deliberately for Juneteenth.

Jasmin studies bonnethead sharks and the critically endangered smalltooth sawfish, one of the last "lifeboat populations" left on Earth, now facing a mysterious new spinning disease that's already claimed an estimated 80 animals in Florida. She's also the author of the memoir Sharks Don't Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Shark Scientist, which draws striking parallels between shark conservation and the fight for Black liberation.

In this conversation, Jasmin shares her "scientific meet-cute" origin story, why she walked away from a traditional academic career, how local fishers and Indigenous oral histories are reshaping what scientists thought they knew about bull sharks and red tide, and what she'd tell any young woman of color who loves the ocean but isn't sure science was built for her.

Whether you're drawn to marine science, representation in STEM, or just want to hear from someone whose stated goal in life is to be sharks' PR person, this episode is a reminder that the people best equipped to change a field are often the ones it wasn't built for in the first place.

Nearly seven kilometers beneath the Indian Ocean, a team of scientists went looking for hydrothermal vents — and found something else entirely. What they mistook, at first glance, for smoking chimneys turned out to be whale skulls: the opening of a necropolis stretching 1,200 kilometers across the sea floor, holding nearly 500 fossilized whales alongside active whale falls still teeming with life.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Xikun Song of the Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the researchers behind this landmark discovery, newly published in Nature. Dr. Song walks us through the moment of realization on the submersible monitors, the physiology that may be driving deep-diving beaked whales to their limits, and why this site could rewrite what we know about whale evolution over the past 5.3 million years — with remains that may number in the millions, and roughly 6.7 million tons of sequestered carbon locked into the sea floor.

He also shares the story in his own words — in Mandarin, with translation — describing the exact moment his team realized they'd found something extraordinary.

Links mentioned in this episode:

The full study in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10546-z

Smithsonian Magazine's coverage, with photos from the dives: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-discover-the-worlds-largest-deepest-whale-graveyard-where-cetacean-remains-have-been-piling-up-for-five-million-years-180988942/

Save Ocean Sensors: The Fight Over the Ocean Observatories Initiative

A $386 million network of nearly 900 ocean sensors stretching across five sites from Oregon to Alaska to Greenland was being quietly dismantled, with no warning to Congress and no explanation to the public. In this episode, we trace the fight to save the Ocean Observatories Initiative: what this network actually does, why it matters far more than most people realize, and how a Democrat from Oregon and a Republican from Alaska teamed up to pass a bill stopping it in the span of a day and a half.

We talk with Craig McLean, who spent more than 40 years at NOAA, including two stints as NOAA's Chief Scientist, about what's really at stake when ocean monitoring infrastructure disappears, and why this fight is part of a much bigger pattern. We also revisit a warning from a past guest, marine ecologist Dr. Andrew Thaler, that's looking less hypothetical by the day, and lay out exactly what you can do to help make sure this win sticks.

In This Episode

What the Ocean Observatories Initiative actually measures, and why it matters for your weather forecast, your insurance rates, and what farmers plant each season

The Coastal Endurance Array off Oregon and Washington, and why pulling it out right as an El Nino forms is especially bad timing, per OSU oceanographer Jack Barth

How Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) found out sensors were already being removed, and how they got the Saving the OOI Act passed unanimously in under two days

Craig McLean's read on why this kept happening, from the role of the Office of Management and Budget to the broader pattern of cuts to federal science

A look back at a warning from marine ecologist Dr. Andrew Thaler about Project 2025's plans for NOAA, and how that warning is playing out in real time

What happens next: the NSF's review process, and how you can track it and find out where your own senators stand

Featured Voices

Craig McLean spent over 40 years at NOAA, where he founded the Ocean Exploration Program and served as NOAA's Chief Scientist, including being reinstated after being removed from the role for defending scientific integrity. He is now a senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation.

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) led the bipartisan push for the Saving the OOI Act, featured here via Senate floor remarks.

Dr. Andrew Thaler, marine ecologist and conservation technologist, returns in spirit from a past episode where he broke down Project 2025's plans to dismantle NOAA.

Jack Barth, oceanography professor at Oregon State University, provided background on the Coastal Endurance Array via KATU News.

The Bill

The Saving the OOI Act passed the Senate unanimously, pausing NSF's decommissioning of the Ocean Observatories Initiative pending a full review with stakeholder input. It was led by Senators Merkley and Murkowski and cosponsored by Senators Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jack Reed (D-RI), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Patty Murray (D-WA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

Resources & Links

Saving the OOI Act, full text and cosponsor list: Congress.gov

NSF Ocean Observatories Initiative updates: oceanobservatories.org

Senator Merkley's press release on the Saving the OOI Act: merkley.senate.gov

"Scientists warn Oregon could lose critical ocean data under federal cuts," KATU News

Take Action

If your senator is one of the twelve who championed or cosponsored the Saving the OOI Act, send them a thank you.

If they didn't, let them know this issue matters to you.

Watch for the NSF's Dear Colleague Letter and expert panel process, your chance to weigh in on what happens to OOI long-term.

Featuring Alex Rose, Science Editor, Ocean Geographic Magazine & Co-Founder, Sea Americas

Alex Rose has been part of the Ocean Science Radio family for nearly a decade — you may remember her reporting live from MACNA, the Marine Aquarium Conference of North America, back in 2016. Today she's back, this time in the guest chair, with something considerably bigger on the horizon.

Alex is the Science Editor of Ocean Geographic Magazine, founder of ocean conservation company Blue Ring, an Explorers Club Fellow, a professional violinist, and now co-host and producer of Sea Americas — a cinematic expedition documentary series following the world's largest all-female dive team as they document the most threatened marine sanctuaries across the Americas.

In this conversation, Andrew and Dr. Frances Farabaugh sit down with Alex to talk about what it means to dive with purpose in a moment of accelerating loss — from the functionally extinct reef-building corals of the Florida Keys, to the surprisingly intact reefs of Cuba, to the political headwinds threatening the protected waters these stories depend on. They also dig into the Sea Americas Seed & Spark crowdfunding campaign, the conservation model behind Blue Ring, and what it actually feels like to cry underwater while trying to document a dying reef.

Hope, Alex reminds us, needs to be a verb. Let's actively hope.

Links:

Sea Americas: seaamericas.com
Blue Ring: bluering.blue
Ocean Geographic: ogsociety.org
Mission Blue (Netflix)
Last episode featuring Alex Rose - https://oceanscienceradio.simplecast.com/episodes/macna

Guest: Oliver Gunasekara, CEO & Co-Founder, Impossible Metals

Website: impossiblemetals.com

Eureka Collection System animation: https://impossiblemetals.com/blog/next-generation-eureka-collection-system-animation-now-available/

Context & Further Reading:

ISA (International Seabed Authority): isa.int

DISCOL experiment — long-term seafloor disturbance study: https://www.discol.de/index.html

IEA Critical Minerals Report (recycling projections): https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook-2025

Our previous episode: Trump Administration Ocean Policy Forum with Dr. Andrew Thaler, Dr. Diva Amon, and Angelo Villagomez

Key Terms:

Polymetallic nodules: Mineral-rich concretions found on the deep seafloor, taking millions of years to form

UNCLOS: United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Common Heritage of Mankind: Legal principle that certain global resources belong to all of humanity

ISA: International Seabed Authority — the UN body governing deep seabed mining in international waters

AUV: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

BGR: German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe)