“‘The coolest little organization you’ve never heard of’”
The Carmel Pine Cone | Elaine Hesser
LIKE DORY in “Finding Nemo,” sometimes you just have to keep swimming, especially when it looks like there’s a long journey ahead. For Melissa Mahoney, that meant following her dream of becoming a marine biologist and ocean conservation activist like Jacques Cousteau — despite growing up in western Colorado.
After earning her bachelor’s degree in environmental science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, she got her master’s in marine science through San Francisco State University at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories. More than 20 years later, Mahoney’s the executive director of the Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust — in her words, “the coolest little organization you’ve never heard of.”