Photo: TEDx Monterey, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Overview
Asha de Vos is a marine biologist from Sri Lanka who documented an unusual population of blue whales that live year-round in the waters near her home country, rather than migrating to distant feeding grounds like most blue whales do. At the time, almost no marine research funding or attention went to the Indian Ocean, and de Vos had to build her research career with far fewer resources than scientists in wealthier countries typically have access to. She founded Oceanswell, Sri Lanka's first marine conservation research and education organization, to train the next generation of local ocean scientists. Her research on whale feces has even revealed how whales help fertilize the ocean and support the entire marine food chain.
Why She Matters
De Vos's work shows that important ocean discoveries do not only happen in wealthy countries with big research budgets. She built a career studying whales in a part of the world most ocean research had overlooked. By founding Oceanswell, she ensured Sri Lankan students wouldn't have to leave their country to become marine scientists studying their own waters. Her story reminds us that curiosity and persistence matter as much as resources when it comes to making scientific discoveries.
