2023 projects

• The Whalenerd’s Podcast, a weekly show about whales, the oceans, and more. 

• Wild Monterey Bay, a forthcoming book, is a celebration of the extraordinary richness and diversity of marine life found in and around the waters of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, along with the people who have shared their lives with these amazing creatures, large and small.

marine biologist, naturalist, guide, and Captain

katlyn taylor

About

Katlyn Taylor is a marine biologist, naturalist, guide, and U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain. She has worked the past eight years on ecotour vessels all over the United States. She has a passion for science, particularly marine science, but what really drives her is sharing that passion with other people. She strives to share her knowledge with people in a way that inspires them to care more for our planet and take action to protect it. 

Katlyn graduated from Oregon State University in 2014 with two Bachelor’s degrees. A B.S. in Biology with a Marine Biology Option and Spanish Minor and a B.A. in International Studies with a focus in Spanish Language and Culture. She was also an Undergraduate Research Fellow and her undergraduate thesis was titled Protecting Our Oceans: Perceptions on Marine Debris. 

While at Oregon State she fell in love with marine mammals and marine mammal science. In the summer of 2014, Katlyn took an internship in Monterey, CA doing opportunistic sighting data collection on whale watch boats. After that first summer she began working for whale watching companies on the Monterey Old Fisherman’s Wharf as office and boat crew. Over time she developed and managed internship programs, research catalogs, and educated tens of thousands of tourists. She worked with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council’s vessel disturbance working group at NOAA, served on the Monterey Sustainable Hospitality Collective, and served on the board of the American Cetacean Society’s Monterey Bay Chapter over the course of her five-and-a-half years in the area. She organized beach clean ups, networked within her community, and built programs with local conservation groups, business owners and California State Parks.

In 2016 she embarked on a storytelling project with a dear friend and colleague to showcase the ecosystem of Monterey Bay. They interviewed over 40 people about their most memorable wildlife encounters and are compiling their accounts into a book called Wild Monterey Bay. 

Early in 2019 Katlyn and a few friends and colleagues began a podcast about whales, the oceans, conservation, and more. The Whalenerd’s Podcast streams on almost all major podcast platforms. They invite scientists, conservationists, and artists as guests; and report on the latest marine science news and findings. 

In the fall of 2019 Katlyn moved to Maui to work as a naturalist for Pac Whale EcoAdventures, a part of Pacific Whale Foundation. For a few months before the COVID pandemic began, she educated thousands of visitors aboard snorkel and whale watching tours about the Hawaiian Islands, wildlife, and conservation. By summer of 2020 she found herself working as first mate aboard the Hurricane II for Cape Ann Whale Watch in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She has seasonally followed the whales across the furthest reaches of the United States since then, alternating between Maui and Massachusetts for several years.