2006 Knauss Fellow at NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources

Mary Jacobs-Spaulding

In April 2006, Mary Jacobs-Spaulding assisted with a necropsy of a sei whale killed by a ship strike in Baltimore Harbor. 
Credit: Melissa Andersen, NOAA

February 2007 – As a 2006 Knauss Fellow, Mary Jacobs-Spaulding was a special assistant to the director and deputy director of NOAA’s Office of Protected Resources in Silver Spring, Md., the nation’s lead office for protecting marine mammals and endangered species.

During her fellowship, she helped prepare two reports on the causes of mass whale strandings in Hawaii and North Carolina. “The office had to investigate these incidents and write technical reports on its findings,” she said. “I helped with editing and with presenting the reports to congress and the media.”

She also worked on addressing the impacts of ship traffic on marine mammals. When a sei whale was struck by a container ship entering Baltimore Harbor, she participated in the ensuing investigation on whether the ship strike had been the cause of death, or whether the ship had hit a dead, floating whale.

One of her last activities before her fellowship ended in February 2007 was to attend a forum on vaquita (a species of small dolphin) conservation in San Diego and related meetings with non-governmental organizations and fishermen in Baja California, Mexico.

Now that her fellowship is behind her, she hopes to continue to work in marine mammal conservation. “My interests include marine mammal stranding response, international law related to modern whaling, and links between toxin loads in marine mammals and human health,” she said.

Jacobs-Spaulding earned a master’s in international environmental policy from Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif. It was in this picturesque seaside city that she discovered marine science. “I was a volunteer for the aquarium and worked with sea otters,” she said.

“The adjustment from the rocky shores and abundant marine life of Monterey Bay to the concrete jungle of D.C. hasn’t been without challenges,” she said, “but I am confident the fellowship experience has given me a jump-start into marine policy, and I will continue to see benefits throughout my career.”

For the moment though, she is enjoying a break between the fellowship and next job. “I’m now taking some time to travel while exploring job opportunities in Washington, D.C.,” she said.

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