Jobs at DOC: Nadine Bott, Whale Survey Project Leader

Come behind the scenes and into the jobs, the challenges, the highlights, and the personalities of the people who work at the Department of Conservation (DOC).

Today we profile Nadine Bott, Project Leader for the Cook Strait Whale Project based in Wellington.

At work

Some things I do in my job include:

I’m currently overseeing the Cook Strait whale project. Before going on maternity leave in 2012 I was with DOC for almost 10 years working in the marine and freshwater teams. My role at the moment involves keeping the project afloat, organising the logistics of the whale survey, undertaking the research and then writing up the season’s work. The research involves spotting for humpback whales from a land based lookout on East Head of Tory Channel, going out in the DOC Kaikoura boat ‘Titi’ and approaching the whales to take photo identification samples of the tail flukes and biopsy skin samples for DNA analysis.

This helps achieve DOC’s vision by:

It is a collaborative project with the community and business with considerable volunteer support, while achieving (hopefully!) a greater understanding of humpback whales to aid in their conservation, management and protection.

The best bit about my job is:

Working with a variety of different people within DOC and externally, working with whales and having an ‘office’ in a pretty spectacular place.

The awesome-est DOC moment I’ve had so far is:

While working in the subantarctic Auckland and Campbell Islands. Pretty hard place to beat in terms of ‘awesome-est’. I would love to go back one day.

The DOC (or previous DOC) employee that inspires or enthuses me most is:

I would have to say the RMA planners that I worked with, Sarah Bagnall, Janice Duncan and Claire Graeme – three incredibly smart, enquiring, passionate and courageous women. Another would be Roy Grose, an inspiring leader loved by his community and who has always been supportive and instrumental in getting the whale survey up and running. I have great respect for the rangers in the field who give their heart, energy and time to conservation with little reward or expectation of reward.

On a personal note…

The song that always cheers me up is:

At the moment it is Birdy ‘Light me up’.

My greatest sporting moment was when:

While walking 100 kilometres for Oxfam I remember complaining that my burst blisters hurt more than childbirth and a lady who overheard my comment said ‘you obviously haven’t given birth’. My naive response was ‘you obviously haven’t walked 100 kilometres on burst blisters’.

In my spare time:

I don’t have any.

If I could be any New Zealand native species I’d be:

I have a few favourite animal species but I like to be warm and they all seem to live in cold water.

Before working at DOC:

I worked at Massey University doing autopsies on stranded and bycaught marine mammals.

Deep and meaningful…

My favourite quote is:

“Do unto others as you would have them do to you.”

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given:

That I can do it and not to listen to skeptics.

In work and life I am motivated by:

Compassion, selflessness, people in action

My conservation advice to New Zealanders is:

Stand up for what you believe in.

Question of the week…

What is your favourite marine mammal and why?

A tricky question because every species I have worked on has had its unique strength or endearing characteristic. I would probably have to say southern right whales because when I worked with them it was in the Auckland Islands where they were breeding and this is a pretty spectacular site plus there were calves which are incredibly cute. The whales were interactive, gentle and very visible with lots of breaching, tail slapping and rolling around on the water surface. It is easy to see how they were hunted so effectively by shore based whalers leading to their near extinction.