What do you get when you combine the skills and experiences of a biology teacher, scuba diver, nature photographer, and whale researcher? You get me – Jackie Hildering, The Marine Detective.

I currently work on cases like” “Who’s that humpback whale?”,  ”Which sea slug laid those eggs?”, and “How can we save wild salmon?”

But it all began when I was a bossy teacher in international schools in the Netherlands, with the case I’ve never fully solved: “How do you help people better understand their connection to Nature?” I got closer to the answer when I literally heard killer whales calling and moved back to British Columbia, Canada, in 1999.

Ah, ha! People care AND DO a lot more when they know about the amazing life in the ocean. So, I became a Marine Detective setting out to learn as much as I could.

My learning and teaching opportunities have included being Education Coordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO); Director of Communications for the SOS Marine Conservation Foundation; Head Naturalist for Stubbs Island Whale Watching; President of the Top Island Econauts Dive Club; and humpback whale researcher for the Marine Education and Research Society (MERS).

My audience, with whom I share what I learn, includes international tourists; local school children; the occasional politician and television producer; naturalists young and old; and  . . . you.

Together let’s create positive action for our oceans for they testify to environmental problems first and most often, so needlessly. The issues are caused by lack of knowledge and the fatal error of favouring short-term economic gain over long-term environmental – and thereby societal – devastation.  

The tools I use are passionate teaching, nature photography, and writing.

Home is Port McNeill, Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, CANADA. 

Photo by Vancouver Aquarium’s John Healey. The Marine Detective among Drs. Left to right: Dr. Randall Peterman – winner MAN award for Science; Dr. Murray A. Newman – award is in his honour; founding director of the Vancouver Aquarium; Dr. John Nightengale – President Vancouver Aquarium

Recent recognition:  

    • January 2011 – Vancouver Aquarium’s Murray A. Newman Award for Excellence in Aquatic Conservation. See article, “Hildering honoured with top award“. For a rough video of the acceptance speech, click here.  
    • November 2011 – Port McNeill Chamber of Commerce’s Green Award.
    • June 2010 - Recognition from DFO Director of Oceans, Habitat and Enhancement for “whose contribution to the preservation to the enhancement of the salmonid resource of Northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, has helped ensure a better future for all Canadians”

Contact via this link.