Meet Marlie Temple, Raincoast’s new interim Development Coordinator

Marlie has joined our team to assist with Development: all things fundraising and grants. Our Development Director, Lauren Duboisset-Broust, is taking a maternity leave and has spent the last month working with Marlie to look after things while she is gone. For the last three years, Marlie worked as First Mate at sea facilitating research and hosting youth aboard Raincoast’s research vessel, Achiever. 

We are looking forward to having her in a new role! We posed some questions to Marlie to get to know her better. 

Marlie, we would love to hear about your background and how you got connected with Raincoast. 

Growing up on the Salish Sea, I was enamored with the water and its inhabitants from an early age.  When I was 20, I got my first job at a remote sports fishing lodge that was boat or float plane access only.  I spent the summer absolutely gawking at my surreal surroundings – I couldn’t believe this was our coast, with its squeak-beneath-your-feet icing sugar sand, turquoise waters, and towering trees.  What grabbed me the most was the near daily sightings of wildlife from the beach.  I’m talking dolphins, whales, sea lions, and once or twice, wolves.  And that was it, I was hooked.  It took me a while but I finally realized I could actually have my dream job of driving boats and taking guests into the wilderness in search of wildlife.  It was around this time that I came to know Raincoast and their work.  

Fast forward to 2020, covid has stopped us all in our tracks, and that included any and all tourism.  Forced to take a step back and figure out a new path, I spent a lot of time thinking about how my energy could have a greater positive impact on the things that mattered to me most.  I came up with a couple ideas, but utilizing my adventure tourism and marine skills, paired with my love of animals and wild spaces, I landed on my next dream job…working on a wildlife research vessel.  But come on, how many of those exist, and without a science-based degree, I knew my chances were close to none. 

Not quite 3 months later, after a disappointing work experience, I thought my days in the industry might be over.  Not a week after I got home, Drew, through a mutual friend, texted me out of the blue, wondering if I had any interest or availability to work in a shipyard for the next 3 weeks repairing and painting the bottom of a boat.  He had recently taken over the Marine Ops program at Raincoast, and was in need of a hand in overhauling their 68 ft research vessel, Achiever. The rest is history and it has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to work alongside such a supportive and inspiring group of humans, all while working my covid dream job for an organization I had admired from afar for such a long time. 

What are some of your favorite moments on Achiever? 

While there have been a few memorable moments spending half of the year at sea, what will always stay with me is the quiet and stillness of being in an anchorage in the midst of winter in the middle of nowhere. Witnessing remote parts of the coast through the seasons, and the changes in the movement and behaviour of the wildlife that comes with that, has been a special experience. No one else is (crazy enough to be) off the west coast in the depth of winter, but Achiever makes that possible, and I am thankful for the experience of it and to have found out that I don’t get seasick in 5m swell.  

If I had to choose ONE moment though, it would be earlier this year.  We were finishing a survey line coming in from 20 miles offshore, heading for Brooks Peninsula. As we approached the continental shelf, we encountered a massive group of cetaceans that are rarely reported – let alone all together! At first, all I could see was splashing and disturbance in the water, with over a hundred gulls hovering above.  As we got closer, I went up to the observation platform to get a better look through my binoculars, and it was then we realized we had encountered something truly special – approximately 150 Risso’s dolphins, 100 Northern Right Whale dolphins, 50 Pacific White-Sided Dolphins, and 15 Northern Fur seals were all traveling and (based on all of the gulls) likely foraging together. Some were breaching and porpoising through the water as the late winter sun set, including the fur seals who copied the dolphins, flying through the air alongside their cetacean counterparts. It was something I won’t soon forget. 

You lived and worked in Belize for over a year, what were you doing there?

In two separate stints, I lived and worked a combined total of just over a year in Belize.  I finished my undergrad in Global Studies from Vancouver Island University with an international internship working for the local government in the country’s capital, Belmopan.  I worked under the National Water and Sanitation coordinator working on the implementation of a UNDP pilot project that addressed securing local potable water supply for some of the most vulnerable and remote communities in Belize.  We visited the communities and I collected data surrounding village layout, water quality and source, expected growth, topography, if they had electricity, etc. to determine the best water purification system for their needs.  

Following that, I worked on a few different projects for both government and NGO’s in various roles.  This included community consultation work, developing proposals for community-based economic development and cultural tourism, assessing youth education and curriculum targets, and facilitating a cohort of VIU students working on climate adaptation strategies for Belizean coastal communities.  On weekends, I helped coach a high school girls volleyball team, or jumped on the chicken bus to check out a new area!  Belize will always have a special hold on my heart. 

And wow, you’ve spent over a decade in eco tourism, can you tell us more about that? 

I have always loved wildlife and the outdoors. I got my first job up the central coast at a remote lodge in 2011, and I will never forget that first float plane ride northbound – the coastal mountains on my right, the open Pacific on my left, with hundreds of islands beneath me. Despite being fortunate to have visited 6/7 continents, it’s been my most treasured place on earth ever since. 

I’ve worked all kinds of jobs at remote lodges – from dockhand and dishwasher, to grizzly bear guide and kayak guiding in Antarctica. Eventually, I found what I truly loved in guiding – exploring with guests in some of the most desolate and beautiful places on our coast, and having the opportunity to offer a deeper understanding and awareness of the interconnectedness and complex challenges the wildlife and ecosystems face. The more I saw and learned, the more I saw how science and research can best inform ethics, guidelines, and policy, and so I became motivated to make the jump to more science-based work.

How do you feel about moving into a completely new role at Raincoast? 

I am excited about the opportunity to draw from the breadth of my past experiences in community development work, as well as my love and knowledge of the wildlife, megafauna to microorganisms, that also call this coastline home. Working and spending so much time on Achiever, it’s become my second home (I spend more time living on the boat than at my real house), and so it’s a big transition. The experience of working with such incredible and inspiring scientists, researchers, and crew has been the best part by far, and jumping ship is tough, but I am beyond excited for this new opportunity. 

I feel honoured to continue my work with Raincoast and shift my role to have further impact in the protection and conservation of the wildlife and ecosystems of the BC coast. To be able to give voice to that which has enamored, captivated, inspired, and taught me so much, is a privilege and responsibility I hold dear.

You can help

Raincoast’s in-house scientists, collaborating graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and professors make us unique among conservation groups. We work with First Nations, academic institutions, government, and other NGOs to build support and inform decisions that protect aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and the wildlife that depend on them. We conduct ethically applied, process-oriented, and hypothesis-driven research that has immediate and relevant utility for conservation deliberations and the collective body of scientific knowledge.

We investigate to understand coastal species and processes. We inform by bringing science to decision-makers and communities. We inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats.