• Question: Hello scientists, Thanks for the reply about forensic scientists. I can only ask questions in my own zone but don't worry. What is the average salary for a marine scientist? Lower or higher levels as well and your pay... Thanks adam

    Asked by adamcarr to Sean, Glo, Dave, Clare, Ozge on 14 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by tacos.
    • Photo: Gloeta Massie

      Gloeta Massie answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi Adam – well, for Australia – here you go: http://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Job=Marine_Biologist/Salary. Now, the easiest way to figure that out for other countries is to basically google your question and have a looksee – it’s going to be different everywhere. Also – the field of marine science you’re in makes a HUGE difference. If, for example, you study marine geology and go into marine mining – you’re looking at a significantly (read six figure) salary vs. a little peasbody biologist like me. As to what I personally make – I think that I’m the only one of the bunch who can answer that without getting into any trouble. As a PhD student, I earn $22,860 Australian dollars a year. That’s approximately 14,808 pounds. (By comparison, that’s about the same wage that the guy who is running the til at McDonald’s earns. Obviously, I’m not in it for the cash!) I will make more once I have my PhD, but I’ll never be filthy rich.

    • Photo: Dave Sproson

      Dave Sproson answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hey Adam,

      I’ve been in my first ‘proper’ job (post-PhD) for a few months now, and I earn about the UK average salary (I’ll let you look up what that is!). I assume that this is a bit above average for someone my age.

      So basically I earn a decent living, but don’t really run the risk of ever becoming particularly rich. Ask any scientist and I suspect they’ll say the same: they’re not in it for the money, but because they love what they do, and because it offers a pretty cool lifestyle.

    • Photo: Sean Clement

      Sean Clement answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Hi Adam,

      Like Gloeta says: Biologists earn relatively little, Conservationists even less! Any area of Marine Science that has an Industrial applications (Marine Geology, Oceanography or Marine Engineering) tend to command higher salaries as they can lead to positive commercial outcomes such as a more efficient way to extract oil or natural gas or new methods of renewable energy generation. In other words, they help people make more money!

      Many areas of Marine Biology, Ecology and Conservation are almost entirely dependent on funding, be it a research grant or a funding from philanthropic organisations such as the MacArthur foundations (http://www.macfound.org/) who we get a lot of our funding from at Blue Ventures.

      My pay? Trade secret that one I’m afraid pal…

    • Photo: Ozge Ozkaya

      Ozge Ozkaya answered on 14 Jun 2011:

      Poor Adam, nobody is really answering your question are they…:) I think it will depend of the level you are at. As a PhD student you will get paid but not much. As you go up your pay will as well but the problem, especially if you stay in academia, is that you will have to work in 3 yearly short term projects, the money is ok but not continuous. If you then become a lecturer or professor etc you will earn considerably more but never as much as a medic for example.

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