‘Accidental academic’ and marine biologist Rochelle Constantine on conservation and creating change

Rochelle Constantine says life skills are just as important as her "ability to think". Photo / Brendon O'Hagan Blake

Whanganui-raised marine biologist Rochelle Constantine describes herself as an ‘accidental academic’. She talks to Mike Tweed about what drives her passion for conservation and change.

Rochelle Constantine’s journey to becoming a marine biologist at Auckland University began at Rutherford Intermediate and Whanganui High School before heading off to study zoology and psychology.

But it was an interest in animals that led to an interest in animal behaviour, particularly in the wild.

“The irony is I never trained to be a marine biologist and I never intended to be one,” Constantine said.

“When I was in Whanganui I sailed, so I’ve always been on, in or near the sea.

“I have a thing for the big animals in the sea. I like to see them coming, you know?”

After finishing her study she travelled overseas and worked on ships, before returning to complete her masters.

“I think it was a collection of experiences - knowing how to drive a boat, knowing how to work with these animals and having a lot of practical skills - that let me step straight into the (masters) project.”

It focused on the impacts of tourism on dolphins in the Bay of Islands and around 18 months later she completed a PhD to further develop that work.

“I describe myself as an accidental academic. I was never the smartest kid in the room but when I’m interested in something I apply myself to it,” Constantine said.

“It’s not just about academic skill either, and that’s something sometimes students coming through don’t realise.

“Can you hold conversations with people? Can you fix something that’s broken? For me, those life skills turned out to be just as important as my ability to think.”

The findings of the Bay of Islands work were compelling, although they were ignored for a little too long, she said.

Eventually, the dolphins began to avoid swimmers.

“That was a good lesson for me as a young scientist,” Constantine said.

“You might have some really solid information, there was no doubt about what we found, but that doesn’t mean people are going to do the right thing by it.

“What’s required to affect change can often be slow.”

She has since been involved in many other initiatives, in New Zealand and overseas.

“I was involved in advising a lot of international work and we had success there, where permits were removed from areas entirely to take pressure off the animals, and I also did some research on Dusky dolphins down in Kaikora,” Constantine said.

“Then I found myself at the University of Auckland filling in for someone, then a job came up.

“What seems like next minute, I end up being a professor.”

Since working at the university, two projects really resonated with her, she said.

Rochelle Constantine with Taranga, the last Bryde's whale to die from ship strike in the Hauraki Gulf - September 2014. Photo / Craig Pritchard

“One is the Māui dolphin, which is the world’s rarest marine dolphin. It lives just off the west coast of the North Island. We used to have them down off Whanganui in the past - the distant past.

“In the 1960s, 70s and 80s there was a high level of bycatch and gillnet fishing and they were largely wiped out. Today, there are around 48 animals.”

Constantine said when her team started studying the animals there was a fight between the fishing industry and the people who cared deeply about them.

The parties had “gone to their corners” with no room to meet in the middle.

“That annoys me. Nothing changes if you can’t bring people together.

“You don’t have to like each other and you don’t have to agree but when it comes to conservation or a problem, you have to come together to solve it.”

There was now a better understanding of the dolphins and more protection in place for them.

Gillnet fishing was banned over a large part of the dolphin’s range in 2008.

“I think my approach for the Māui dolphin was built off the Bay of Islands, where I naively thought science would be the answer that would make the change,” Constantine said.

“Change doesn’t happen because of science. It happens because everyone acts in a timely manner.”

Another project that worked “well and swiftly” involved Bryde’s whales in the Hauraki Gulf.

They were getting hit and killed by ships at an unsustainable rate.

“Within two and a half years we went from having more than two whales being killed (per year), which was 50 per cent more than their natural mortality, to none,” she said.

“The shipping industry does this voluntarily. We spoke to them and they agreed to slow down to 10 knots, and no whales have died from ship strikes since 2014.”

She said it was important for people to consciously think about their actions every day.

“Even just once a day. That does make a difference. If 5.5 million New Zealanders picked up one piece of rubbish every day, that’s 5.5 million bits of rubbish.

“It seems silly but one person rarely achieves anything. Lots of people achieve a lot.”

Constantine said that was the story of her career.

She has been included in this year’s King’s Birthday honours list - as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to wildlife conservation and marine biology - the latest accolade for a decades-long career on the ocean.

“Getting these King’s Honours and the Blake Award, and the other ones I’ve been privileged and grateful to receive, they’re never just mine.

“It’s the success of a collective and that’s true for the ocean as well. We’ll be ok if we collectively act every day to help it.”

Constantine said the Whanganui community should be proud to live next to a beautiful piece of ocean and a magnificent awa (river).

There were blue whales off the coast and humpback whales were “passing by at the moment”.

“I still have a few aunties and uncles living in Whanganui and I think my parents might move back there at some point.

“There have definitely been rumblings.

“I still pop in and I absolutely love it as a city. It was an amazing place to grow up in. I think my parents made a good decision to go there for that phase of my life.”