Author Q & A: Gemma Conroy on Covering a Solution to Marine Roadkill
Gemma Conroy’s piece, “Stopping Marine Roadkill,” published in Hakai Magazine, appeared in our January-March 2019 round-up as a top pick in the Short Shorts category. In it, Conroy covers marine scientists’ efforts to deal with the leading cause of death or injury to giant marine wildlife, namely ship strikes. To protect whales and sharks from passing ships, scientists are adopting the rules of the road on land, including reducing speed limits in shipping lanes. The SciShortform editors felt this piece offers excellent coverage of the issue clearly and concisely, making it accessible for both researchers and lay readers.
We asked Conroy the following questions about her experience covering this story.
Q1: How did you come to write this piece? (Did you pitch the topic or was it assigned? What piqued your interest in it?)
I spotted a press release on this paper while trawling the internet for story ideas, and it was tucked away on Macquarie University’s newsroom page. I was surprised that it had not received any media coverage, as it was an important topic that was being tackled from an entirely different angle. I thought it was interesting as it took elements of land-based road ecology and applied it to reduce the impacts of shipping on whale populations, which is not something…
