Stress

A marine biologist loves the water and all the animals in it, and yet they have to deal with the effects of people who don't love the water. It can certainly be frustrating when you put so much effort into a conservation project to find out that some business decision means you've got another potential crisis to reverse.

Stress is when you've spent years restoring marshland only to hear that City Council has approved the construction of a nuclear waste dump right next to your beloved lily pads.

Stress is when you discover that the federal bureaucrats have eliminated the entire budget for protecting endangered marine mammals.

Stress is when a certain petroleum company says they've got everything under control and then, just two days later, the black gunk washing up on hundreds of miles of beach suggests that they do not, in fact, have anything under control.

Researchers are likely to get stressed when data is confusing or inconclusive. Professors get stressed right around the time they need to submit their research proposals to the bigwigs who determine their research budget. And those at marine-related organizations certainly stress over how to convince the public and lawmakers of the importance of conservation efforts.