In September of 2023, Salty Science was featured in an episode of Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs, as the team were preparing and training. This episode is a follow-up, and we discuss their experiences as they rowed across the Atlantic Ocean during the The World’s Toughest Row.
Salty Science is a team of four marine scientists from the United States and Canada, working to raise awareness for ocean conservation and education. In December of 2023, Chantale Bégin, Isabelle Côté, Noelle Helder, and Lauren Shea rowed across the Atlantic Ocean as part of The World’s Toughest Row challenge. They finished first in the women’s division, and overall 7th out of 38 teams, finishing in front of many of the men’s teams as well.
The team raised money through private and corporate sponsorships to benefit these marine conversation organizations:
- Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre of Vancouver Island
A world-class teaching and research facility situated in the traditional territory of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations. Bamfield hosts an award-winning K-12 education program, runs field courses for university students, and supports research in marine ecology and conservation. The funds raised by Salty Science will go specifically to the creation of a scholarship fund for students of underrepresented minorities to attend field courses and carry out marine conservation research. - Green Wave
Green Wave’s mission is to train and support regenerative ocean farmers in the era of climate change. Regenerative ocean farming is a polyculture system that grows kelp and shellfish—crops which require no input of food or fertilizer, making them the most sustainable food production on the planet! Kelp is extremely nutritious and can be used in a variety of commercial applications, from fertilizer for land-based farming to a biodegradable alternative to plastic packaging. - Shellback
Shellback was founded in 2017 to support marine research, conservation and education, with a special focus on the Eastern Caribbean. Shellback has supported research to find better and more accurate ways of measuring sediment accumulation rates on coral reefs, which is crucial to understand how land use affects downstream reefs and use this information for management decisions. Shellback also supports continued reef monitoring efforts throughout the region by linking university students in service-learning field courses with community partners interested in data that can be generated through these courses.
To learn more about Salty Science, please visit https://www.saltyscience.org.
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Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs is written, edited, and produced by Rich Napolitano.
Original theme music by Sean Sigfried.