TIERNEY THYS: GUARDIAN OF THE OCEAN

Dr. Tierney Thys takes a close look at an ocean sunfish in the waters off San Diego, California, a focal point of her longterm research as a marine biologist. More recently, she has studied the effects of nature deprivation on the incarcerated, as well as delving into a new global project spotlighting natural fibers that don’t unleash harmful micro-plastics into the ocean. Photo: Mike Johnson

Interview by Barbara S. Moffet

Marine biologist, Tierney Thys, took one look at a picture of an ocean sunfish in graduate school and vowed to find out more about the enormous, weirdly shaped fish. She went on to tag and track sunfish around the globe and has become a leading expert on the fish. Her field research is helping unravel mysteries surrounding ocean sunfish, such as where they travel, how deep they dive and how fast they can swim.

An author, filmmaker and leader of expeditions across the planet, Thys also has collaborated on research on the effects of nature deprivation among prison inmates. Currently, she co-leads a global exploration and celebration of sustainable textiles to reduce the tremendous amount of waste generated by our petroleum-based, fast-fashion industry. Our polyester, acrylic and nylon clothing sheds billions of micro-plastics into the environment and into our food supply. This project, Around the World in 80 Fabrics, features a quilt made of fabric swatches sourced from across the planet and will star in a traveling museum exhibit, book, app and podcast. 

A National Geographic Explorer, Thys holds a biology degree from Brown University and a Ph.D. in zoology from Duke University. She recently responded to questions about her work from her home in Carmel, Calif.

—Barbara S. Moffet

“There is a growing momentum for positive change at all levels of society, and the more people I meet the more hopeful I become. We know how to reduce our impacts—we just need to find the will and work together.  From my viewpoint, we are well on our way to a very bright future!” —Tierney Thys

Thys inside the Aquarius Reefbase U/Q (underwater) habitat off Key Largo, Florida in 2016. Photo: James Fourqurean

Barbara Moffet: How did you first become interested in the ocean sunfish?

Tierney Thys: I heard about ocean sunfish growing up in California but had never actually seen one in the wild. When I entered graduate school at Duke University, my advisor—the renowned bio-mechanist Stephen Wainwright—had a tiny picture of one taped to his office door, along with all sorts of other strange critters. I kept looking at that picture and thinking to myself: that is the most ridiculous design for an open-ocean fish that I’ve ever seen. Why in the world would a fish lose its tail? I figured this fish certainly had a tale to tell and got hooked. My advisor offered me the chance to study ocean sunfish at the Monterey Bay Aquarium later that year, and I jumped at it.

BSM: They are hard to miss, living around the globe, reaching up to 10 feet in length and weighing as much as 5,000 pounds. What are their personalities like?

TT: Every ocean sunfish has its own personality and behaviors. No two are alike. Some are quite relaxed around divers, boaters and snorkelers while others want nothing to do with humans. For the most part they are a really relaxed fish, not aggressive in any way and true gentle giants.

BSM: How do you go about studying sunfish, and what has your research uncovered about them? 

TT: There are countless ways of studying ocean sunfish—all of which depend on what questions you’re asking. For example, if you’re interested in where sunfish travel, how deep they dive, what temperatures they prefer, how fast they swim, how long they spend at the surface, if they are interacting or aggregating with each other, then you can use different kinds of tags, like satellite or acoustic tags, to track their movements, behaviors and residency patterns over many months and even years. Our team has tagged dozens of sunfishes all over the world from South Africa to Japan, California to Indonesia and Galapagos. We’ve found that they can dive to 1,000 meters and then spend time lying about on the surface of the water. They don’t appear to have large-scale migrations, although generally we do see them move into higher latitudes during the summer months following temperature gradients of around 13-18 degrees C. 

I also work with geneticists to understand population structure and species differentiation, plankton specialists and oceanographers to better understand larval distribution and computer vision specialists to explore if skin pattern differences can be used to track individual sunfish non-invasively—like what is done with whale sharks, mantas and whale fluke patterns. These are just a few of the ongoing projects. I have also formed a working group to revise and update the current International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red-listing of the family Molidae.

“Part of my work involves quantifying the effects of nature imagery and sounds on human wellbeing—particularly in nature-deprived areas such as prisons. I was inspired to work with incarcerated populations by my very accomplished colleague, Dr. Nalini Nadkarni at the University of Utah.”

Donning her first wetsuit—constructed and hand-glued by her parents—Thys developed her passion for the ocean early in life along the northern California coast. Photo: Tierney Thys Collection

I recently coedited the first academic book on this entire group (with Jonathan Houghton and Graeme Hays) entitled The Ocean Sunfishes: Evolution, Biology and Conservation, by CRC Press, Taylor & Francis. That was a great COVID project, and hopefully it can provide a launch pad for many more ocean sunfish researchers to come.

BSM: How do you relate your findings in the natural world to human behavior? I understand part of this work involves prison inmates in solitary confinement.

TT: Part of my work involves quantifying the effects of nature imagery and sounds on human wellbeing—particularly in nature-deprived areas such as prisons. I was inspired to work with incarcerated populations by my very accomplished colleague, Dr. Nalini Nadkarni at the University of Utah. Nalini and I are both dedicated to putting nature where nature is not, and prisons, particularly solitary confinement prisons, are some of the most nature-deprived habitats on the planet.

We’ve published quite a bit about this important work in the Journal of the Ecological Society of America and in Corrections Today.

“The idea for this project came about from the realization that more than 60 percent of our wardrobe today is made from petroleum. When we wash and dry these clothes, those materials release billions of tiny plastic microfibers into the atmosphere and ecosystems… in the ocean alone there are 500 times more pieces of plastic than stars in our galaxy.”

BSM: Your chief emphasis these days is on fabrics—an effort to reduce the microplastics that find their way to the ocean by encouraging the use of sustainable textiles. How are you going about this?

Sharing her findings on the effects of nature deprivation on the brain of the incarcerated—research Tierney Thys did in partnership with botanist Dr. Nalini Nadkarni—at a TED All-Stars talk in 2017. Photo: TED Creative Commons

TT: Yes, I’m super excited about this project, cofounded with my dear colleague and fellow National Geographic Explorer, social anthropologist Carroll Dunham. The project is called Around the World in 80 Fabrics, and its centerpiece is a gorgeous narrative quilt which will be part of a traveling museum exhibit featuring 80 fabric swatches sourced from every corner of the globe. The exhibit, due to open in 2025 or thereabouts, will be accompanied by a lavishly illustrated book, interactive website, app, and social media feed which we’ve already launched @ATW80Fabrics.

The idea for this project came about from the realization that more than 60 percent of our wardrobe today is made from petroleum. Just take a peek at your own clothing labels. If you see polyester, nylon, acrylic or elastane, then you are clothed in a fossil fuel product. When we wash and dry these clothes, those materials release billions of tiny plastic microfibers into the atmosphere and ecosystems—so many, in fact, that now much of the life on our planet is ingesting plastic microfiber pollution. For example, in the ocean alone there are 500 times more pieces of plastic than stars in our galaxy. That’s a sobering thought, isn’t it?!

What we hope to accomplish with Around the World in 80 Fabrics is to showcase makers and innovators, both in the field and at the lab bench, who are reviving, sustaining and/or developing myriad nature-friendly fabrics and processes. These amazing communities are working to enhance the health of the ocean and soil, and their work can act as models for regenerative agriculture, alternatives to our current fast-fashion textiles and embodiments of circular economic solutions.

This is quite a fantastic adventure, and we'd love people to join us by following the project on Instagram at ATW80Fabrics.

BSM: You also are an educator and lead student expeditions. What’s on the horizon for those?

TT: Yes, I just returned from Baja California Sur, where this summer I was with a great group of high-school students at La Ventana. We were SCUBA diving and snorkeling as part of a Putney and National Student Expedition, and I was teaching about marine biology and conservation. I adore seeing the excitement of these students and their enthusiasm and hope for the ocean world and for our future. The outdoors is by far the best classroom.

BSM: Are you still making films?

TT: Yes indeed! I’m in the midst of writing a short film for TEDed (working title: The Plastivores). I’m excited to be working again with my brilliant colleague Christian Sardet from The Plankton Chronicles and Parafilms, with whom I co-wrote The Secret Life of Plankton. 

Our upcoming short film explores fascinating microbes that are able to digest certain forms of plastics and how genetic engineering can enhance these important characteristics.

BSM: How do you juggle all of these efforts with your role as a mother of a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old? And are they interested in science?

TT: Being a mom is indeed a juggling act, but I have an amazingly supportive husband, Brett Hobson, without whom I couldn’t do my work and research. Our two wonderful kiddiumps are fairly self-sufficient and rather used to mommy traveling across the globe and then returning with many stories about the wonders of the world. They both love to travel as well and have accompanied me on numerous international journeys. Both are enamored with and respectful of science, they love being in the water and have immense compassion for all the critters and life we have the honor of sharing this beautiful world with.

“Throughout my career, I’ve come to understand that no matter how wondrous and important a scientific discovery, conveying that importance involves understanding human psychology. If we really want share findings and inspire long-term positive prosocial behavioral changes, we need to better understand our own cognition, our built-in biases, irrationalities, diverse value systems and recognize that we are highly emotional beings.”

BSM: How do you see your work fitting in to the larger picture of global conservation of the natural world?

TT: All of my work is motivated by an urgency to conserve our invaluable natural resources and lessen our environmental impacts, particularly when it comes to the ocean realm. Throughout my career, I’ve come to understand that no matter how wondrous and important a scientific discovery, conveying that importance involves understanding human psychology. If we really want share findings and inspire long-term positive prosocial behavioral changes, we need to better understand our own cognition, our built-in biases, irrationalities, diverse value systems and recognize that we are highly emotional beings. To inspire any sort of change, we need to keep these psychological aspects of humanity in mind whenever we share scientific discoveries. A large portion of my work explores how tools such as nature imagery, sound and science storytelling can inspire stewardship and positive behavior change.  

BSM: What, if anything, gives you hope for the planet?

TT: The world is bursting with phenomenal people who are passionately working to protect our natural resources. With my diverse projects, I have had the joy and honor of meeting a huge cross-section of such people from all walks of life, disciplines and ethnicities. There is a growing momentum for positive change at all levels of society, and the more people I meet the more hopeful I become. We know how to reduce our impacts—we just need to find the will and work together.  From my viewpoint, we are well on our way to a very bright future!

INTERESTED IN BOOKING TIERNEY THYS TO PRESENT AT AN UPCOMING EVENT? PLEASE CONTACT US.

You can connect with Dr. Tierney Thys on Instagram and Facebook.

Barbara S. Moffet was longtime Senior Director of Communications at National Geographic. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Thys presenting at TEDLive on Broadway. While a marine biologist by training, Tierney Thys has also conducted research on the importance of nature in human health and—most recently—on how we can produce textiles that better protect the health of our oceans and the planet. Photo: Ryan Lash/TED