An Interview with Tierney Thys

Meet National Geographic Emerging Explorer Tierney Thys—a marine biologist and filmmaker who studies some of the ocean's largest animals. Tierney will join the National Geographic On Campus program in Monterey Bay, California this summer.

Q: What were you most passionate about as a teenager?

A: I have always had a passion for studying biology. Even when I was just 6 years old, I loved to page through my older sister's high school biology text and find diagrams exposing the inner workings of living creatures. I've always loved being outdoors and held a keen interest in sports. In high school, I was obsessed with soccer, cross-country skiing and track. Today I still love to trail run as often as I can muster the time, and to spend time on the water.

Q: Do you have a hero or mentor?

A: Dr. Sylvia Earle (National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence) has been a great mentor for me as has Dr. Eugenie Clark. Both of these women are real dynamos—changing the world with their work, their limitless energy and their indomitable spirits. I very much look up to these two women and hope I can be half as productive as they are when I get into my seventies and eighties.

Q: What aspect of your work are you most proud of?

A: As a Filmmaker
At Sea Studios Foundation (SSF), we produced an eight-hour documentary series and outreach project called the Shape of Life that aired on PBS in 2001. I was the project's science editor. This project, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, chronicles the rise of the animal kingdom. The materials we produced are used all around the nation in top aquariums, middle schools, high schools and universities. I still receive repeated praise for the usefulness and beauty of the series and our outreach products. I love the fact that we were able to bring to the silver screen some of the more unsung but nonetheless spectacular and evolutionarily-significant members of the animal world such as sponges, jellyfish, flatworms, and echinoderms.

Our next undertaking at SSF was called National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth. For this project, we dove into the inner workings of the planet to show how Earth operates as an integrated system and how our perturbations to the atmosphere and ocean can have far-reaching and at times counter-intuitive impacts. This project, for which I was the Director of Research, was very well received and won the equivalent of the Green Oscar at the Wildscreen Festival in Bristol, England in 2005.

As a Researcher
I have very much enjoyed sharing the findings from our ocean sunfish research with the public around the world and have given dozens of presentations to all age groups. Meeting so many kindred spirits through these talks and through my volunteer citizen scientist mola sighting website (www.oceansunfish.org) have also been great highlights of this work.

As a Volunteer
Every month I walk a stretch of Monterey Bay, tallying up beachcast animals for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Beach COMBERS group. Scouring the beach for dead things may sound a bit grisly, but my work with Beach COMBERS has made me feel more intimately connected to the ocean than much of the other work I have done for marine research and conservation during the past ten years. Being part of this small, dedicated group of volunteers has also shown me what a difference just a small bit of volunteer work can make!

Q: What is your favorite part of your job?

A: While I adore being in the field, both on and under the water. I also really enjoy pulling pieces of the puzzle together to figure out what is motivating ocean animal behavior and writing up the research. Collaborating with scientists and media people from all over the world to share the latest findings about the ocean and its creatures is a huge highlight of my work.

Q: What is an important lesson you have learned throughout your travels and work as a marine biologist?

A: The most important skills I learned were to swim proficiently, to clear my mask effectively and quickly, and to scuba dive. I've also learned to never give up and most importantly maintain a sense of humor when things don't go as planned.

Q: What is your favorite bizarre fact about the mola (giant ocean sunfish)?

A: Everything about the mola is rather bizarre. The fact that its spinal cord is shorter than its brain is rather odd as is the discovery that a single 1.2 meter mola can produce an estimated 300 million eggs in her single ovary is rather astounding. Discovering that mola can repeatedly dive to depths more than 700m, and the fact that mola can reach such huge sizes—2,200 kg—on a diet primarily of jellies, is remarkable as well.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I am writing up the findings from our mola-tagging work around the world, helping push for the implementation of a marine reserve in Bali, Indonesia, and preparing to tag some more fish in the Galapagos later this year. I am also working with National Geographic's Kids Television group to develop a series about water for PBS. I have several children's book in the workings, a book on sunfish, and a book about education in the mix. Lastly, I am developing and fund-raising for a teen mentoring conference called The Big Fish conference (www.thepoint.com/campaigns/the-big-fish-conference). This event is fashioned after the superbly successful TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference for which I serve on the Braintrust.

Q: You've lived in the Monterey Bay area for a long time. What do you find most exciting about the area?

A: There are just sooooo many amazing aspects of the Monterey Bay Area—it's hard to just choose one as THE most exciting. Certainly the diversity of marine life is unparalleled. This place is a veritable marine-animal mecca, with grey whales, pacific white-sided dolphins, California sea lions and sea otters, northern elephant seals and harbor seals, leopard sharks, great whites, molas, opahs, rockfish, Laysan albatross, pelicans, and much more. Any time of year the Bay is literally bursting with life. This life in turn attracts world-class researchers in biology, oceanography and marine technology, so living here I get regular exposure to all of these treasures in addition to having the Monterey Bay Aquarium right at my backdoor.

Q: What are you most looking forward to as the NG expert on the Monterey Bay On Campus program this summer?

A: I am very much looking forward to meeting the students! I have met the most amazing students and families on past National Geographic expeditions. Meeting all these adventurers—and the young explorers in particular—is by far the best part of any trip for me.

Q: Do you have any advice for our students heading out on a National Geographic Student Expedition this summer?

A: Bring an open mind and lots of energy. Try to do some reading on the destination you will be visiting before you leave. Establishing a bit of background will help make the place come alive.

Learn More
Read a detailed itinerary and discover how you can explore Monterey Bay with Tierney this summer.

Your participation in a National Geographic Student Expedition provides support to National Geographic's mission of increasing global understanding through exploration, geography education, and research.