If Melissa Ashley had told her five-year-old self she’d be studying white sharks in graduate school, she might have jumped for joy.
“My younger self would have been very happy,” says Ashley, who will finish her MA in Environmental Policy and Management in spring 2025. “I’ve always loved the ocean, I love learning about environmental and marine science, and I like to share it with people.”
Ashley’s recent work on white sharks accomplishes precisely that, and represents part of a larger mission to demystify, conserve, and spotlight how majestic—and central to the ocean ecosystem—white sharks are.
The effort has culminated, in part, with the new Monterey Bay White Sharks website, the product of a partnership between Middlebury Institute and the Block Lab (housed at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station), the Costa Lab (based at UC Santa Cruz), and the Garza Lab (of University of Washington).
The wider project was launched with a $5.5 million state grant to gather a mother lode of natural science about white sharks. Middlebury’s Center for the Blue Economy was entrusted to translate those findings through the public-facing website, which debuted last month.
Stanford professor of marine science Dr. Barbara Block, whose work with apex marine predators at Hopkins reverberates around the world, leads the project. In addition to acoustic receiver and satellite tracking, Hopkins and the collaborating laboratories’ experts used genomics, census numbers, environmental DNA, drones, and advanced ecological and oceanographic models. That allowed them to assemble previously unknown insights on white shark movement, hunting habits, preferred ocean conditions, and more.
“Understanding where sharks live and reproduce is critical for informing policies aimed at protecting these vital marine predators,” the website reports. “By identifying key habitats and breeding grounds, scientists can provide policy makers with the necessary information to designate marine protected areas and implement conservation measures in regions crucial for the sharks’ survival.”
First-year environmental policy and management grad student Elena Gavigan also developed companion content for Instagram and Facebook; additional interactive data maps tracking sharks and new videos about the work are in development too.
On top of that, the white shark research team plans to host an exhibit and major launch event in spring 2025 in partnership with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Middlebury Professor Jason Scorse, who is also director of the Institute’s Center for the Blue Economy, coordinated Middlebury’s contributions, including Ashley’s work.
“I’ve always loved the ocean, but what was less clear to me was the career path I would take in the ocean space,” said Ashley. “I wanted to go into marine science in some capacity, and I thought that had to [involve] working in marine biology.”
That led to an epiphany of sorts: All the breakthrough research in the world isn’t all that helpful if policy makers and the public don’t understand—and act—on it, which is where her role takes on vital connectivity.
“It’s important to have someone who has a working knowledge of science and policy, and can communicate between the two, and the public,” says Ashley, who has parlayed her Institute studies and white shark work into a fellowship with California Sea Grant. “In order to build successful policy, and be a practitioner in the conservation space, you have to navigate both.”
In the meantime, her white shark tasks prove personally gratifying and environmentally meaningful.
“White sharks are so important to study because, as a keystone species, they regulate pinniped populations and help maintain the balance of the oceanic food web, keeping ecosystems like Monterey Bay healthy,” she says, “[while] contributing significantly to the balance of the oceans overall.”
Master of Arts in Environmental Policy and Management
Center for the Blue Economy
| by Jason Warburg
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