Riding the Audio Waves: Why the Ocean Needs a Podcast

Like a lot of the people who may be interested enough in our seven seas to read this article, I was in the cinema on the opening day of the latest Attenborough documentary, Ocean. Those familiar with the work of our planetary hero will have noticed a marked shift in the tone and the takeaway of the film, the Associated Press calling it a “brutal, beautiful wake-up call.” Much like the anxious, knee-tapping, nail-biting movie-goers beside me, I found myself balancing several emotions all at once. Overwhelm and sheer panic at the visual confrontation of the challenges facing our oceans, but also a strange sense of relief that the conversation turned in a direction it feels like we have all been waiting for.

The Invisible Science Problem

Mainstream environmental media has typically hoped to capitalize on wonder and the mobilizing properties of awe. This approach works well among the public. Ocean and environmental interest has grown substantially over the last two decades, although the activism that has bloomed from its roots is often met with dismissal from the great and powerful “those in charge.”

So why was this film so striking? “Ocean science is often invisible,” says Alison Clausen, Global Deputy Coordinator of the UN Ocean Decade. Despite two thirds of our global population living within 100 km of the sea, the role it plays in our climate systems is not always top of mind. Our tiny minds struggle to grasp how large the ocean even is; perhaps we’ve also struggled to imagine how severe our impact could be. But this film might be brackishly called the cinematic equivalent of lifting back the curtain that hides the destructive machinery we’ve been told to pay no attention to. In this marine context, the damage demands to be seen. The good news is, we know what we’re doing wrong and we know how to fix it.

Now that we’ve all watched the documentary, we need a place for that conversation to flow.

The Power of Audio: Reaching 584 Million Listeners

If every podcast listener in the world held hands, we could wrap ourselves around the global coastline three times and stare out lovingly at the shining sea before us. Three might not sound like that many, but when you consider that around 584 million people are tuning into their favorite audio channels this year (up almost 7% from 2024), you begin to understand how powerful the medium is in relating information to vast audiences. And the space provides a number of unique advantages.

Ocean with Sir David Attenborough took about 3 years to create and cost over $5 million to produce. The impact tsunami that I hope will ripple throughout the decades is incalculable, but projects of this scale can’t be cranked out quickly enough to maintain the momentum they create and keep people engaged in ocean action. Meanwhile, Riverside estimates the average cost of starting a podcast to be between $100 and $5,000 USD, and I can tell you a fairly high quality episode can easily be produced in a week. We’ve got another problem on our hands though too: ocean science accessibility.

Breaking Down the Jargon Barrier

If ocean science is the solution, that’s great. By combining bathymetry and satellite studies, the ongoing NASA EXPORTS Project has set out to understand how the biogeochemical processes of carbon fixating mixotrophic dinoflagellates at the surface layer function within the biological carbon pump. This research proves to offer a crucial understanding of how diatoms and other microzooplankton facilitate long-term deep-sea sequestration, providing groundbreaking insights into our ocean-atmospheric, biospheric, and cryospheric systems.

But what if you’re like I was about 3 weeks ago when less than half (generous) of those words made sense?

This is part of the larger problem we face around public understanding and appreciation of science. For one thing, no one really reads scientific articles. (Even scientists). As many as half of academic articles are only read by the authors and journal editors (Meho, 2007). This reality isn’t helped by the fact that a single PDF can set you back $127. But even when we do get lost in the pages, we see they’re often written in dense, technical language so other scientists can scan them quickly and get on with their own research. That works well inside the lab, but it doesn’t exactly translate for the rest of us. These are big, systemic hurdles that the field of science communication is actively wrestling with. Podcasting presents a bridge to close the gap between the scientific community and the public.

Having a scientist on the phone for even an hour gives us enough time to focus in on the parts of the research that are relevant for the public, and with a bit of handholding, walk through the jargon together, and create a product that is digestible, nuanced, engaging, and responsible. If we can do that heavy lifting, we can rely on the ocean’s objective allure. The advantage with marine science is that we don’t have to walk on water to make the ocean sound interesting.

Fighting the Attention Economy

But why not just write lots of articles like this?

Lastly we have brainrot. We live in an attention economy where scrolling is reflex and distraction is currency. A study by Chartbeat found that the majority of people reading any article (let alone a scientific publication) will move on within fifteen seconds. More than half of the people who read my punny title are no longer with us, which means I should probably make my point quickly.

Oceanography Podcast: Making Waves in Marine Communication

If you haven’t guessed it, I produced a podcast about the ocean. While Oceanography is the newest addition to the Pine Forest Media catalog of environmental podcasts, over the last two years we’ve been able to use audio format as a cost-effective and engaging way to keep listeners excited about Antarctica while they’re mowing the lawn, plastic pollution policy while they’re drying the dishes, or the science of sustainable drinking water while they’re driving to work, week after week.

Featured Episodes and Impact

Here’s some of the ways we’re keeping the conversation flowing on oceans.

In Oceanography’s debut episode, we talked about how to save the whales, like actually. Megan Amico from the NOAA New England Fisheries Gear Research Unit came on to share her work collaborating with local and industrial fishermen alike off the coast of Maine to test and design lobster traps and other fishing equipment that prevents endangered species from bycatch and entanglement.

The week after that, we got our science communication on with Dr. Jesús Alcázar-Treviño who told us all about bioacoustics and what kinds of questions researchers are asking about the sound of the sea. We learned about the way whales communicate and why some of them stay completely silent at certain layers of the water column; how volcanic eruptions alter ocean soundscapes and therefore entire ecosystems; how seismic explosions from deep sea mining operations or military testing disrupts underwater biocommunication channels. As an audio nerd, I liked this one a lot. Did you know that schools of fish in the Great Barrier Reef sing together in unison each night at sunset?

Episode 6 was a big one. Here we spoke to the Global Deputy Director of the United Nations Ocean Decade (2021-2030) UNESCO-IOC. Beyond understanding what all of those acronyms mean, we learned why the UN decided we need a decade dedicated to ocean science, what are the goals and challenges we’ve set for the next ten years, what success will look like in 2030 and beyond. We also discovered opportunities for you (yes, you) to get involved in the Ocean Decade and contribute to ocean science.*

*GenOcean is the new online portal where UN Ocean Decade is listing citizen science initiatives around the world that anyone can participate in.

Expanding the Conversation

The podcast has allowed us to connect audiences with the latest research in marine science, resources for action and further learning, and communities of ocean activists around the world. We’ll soon be hearing from:

• A coral reef restoration institute in Ghana (Coral Reefstoration) that is launching a course to teach basic diving and videography skills to marine biology undergraduates.
• The largest network of marine protected areas in the world about what it takes to maintain these salty sanctuaries long after their lines have been drawn on the map.
• Seaforestation: a kelp forest recovery project in the Barkley Sound being informed by First Nations approaches to marine conservation.

Since our launch in late July, Oceanography has reached ears in over 65 countries and welcomes more listeners into our waters each week.

The Future of Ocean Science Communication

This is not to say how great we are, or to beg you to listen to our show (please listen to our show). Our mission at Pine Forest Media is to bring accessible, engaging, science communication to the internet and we’re seeing how podcasting is an incredibly effective and fun way to do just that.

To find our full catalog of environmental science communication you can visit the Pine Forest Media website.

And to learn with us each week about the ocean, you can join us on Oceanography, every Tuesday, wherever you stream.

Come on in, the water’s warm(ing).

Written By: Clark Marchese

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About the Author

Oceanography Trailer on Spotify
Oceanography Trailer on Apple Podcasts