Kim Nesbitt

Kim is a marine biologist, fine art photographer, and avid fisherman. Based in Juneau, Alaska, Lingít Aaní, she spends her time between the mountains and the ocean. Academically, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Denver, and her MBA through a joint program between the University of Denver and Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.

After deciding that a career in neurobiology wasn’t her correct path, she had an opportunity to head to Zanzibar where she worked at Chumbe Island Coral Park, the world’s first private Marine Protected Area (MPA), researching habitat preferences of groupers and performing outreach with the local fishing villages. She has since visited all 7 (or now 8!) continents, lived in a tent for weeks at a time in the Himalayas, and was fully nomadic for 6 years. Her varied background has found her working on research projects from humpback whale intelligence to penguin counts to international management styles. She has since become a stereotypical Alaskan woman, living off the road system, backcountry kayaking, finding bears in her backyard, and foraging in the Alaskan wilderness. While not on expedition ships, she works in the blossoming field of kelp mariculture, helping to establish growth protocols and find new sites for kelp farms. She also embarks on commercial fisheries research throughout Alaska. Kim understands that not just her health, but the health of the planet is dependent on the ocean and utilizes her above and below water photography to showcase the beauty of these environments and inspire others to become ocean advocates. Her scientific work has been published in the Western Indian Ocean Journal of Marine Science and numerous field guides. Her imagery has been published by various conservation nonprofits, Alaska Magazine, NOAA, National Geographic, and the Alaska State Museum.