Tales of a migratory marine biologist

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Leaving Kawaihae harbour in Hawaii at 7.42 a.m. on a bright sunny morning in March, the volunteer crew of the _Sealegs_, an amphibious boat, passes some brown boobies (_Sula leucogaster_) on


a buoy. “We call them Barbie Booby and Bobby Booby,” smiles Christine Gabriele, noting that after frequent sightings decades earlier, the seabirds had disappeared from here, returning only


in 2021. “Something must’ve changed,” she says, noting that ocean life still holds so many mysteries. Unravelling some of them, by tracking long-term changes through careful monitoring of


marine mammals, has been a focus of her work. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.