Dr. Dor Edelist

Marine ecologist, consultant, lecturer in the Department of Maritime Civilizations

M.A. and PhD Maritime Civilizations Department

“When I first came to the Department of Maritime Civilizations, the late Prof. Avner Raban told me, ‘You can do anything here. Whatever you want.’ I’m happy to report that ‘everything’ turned out to be really a lot, and it was all entirely possible. For my master’s degree, I researched the global use of artificial reefs. For my PhD, I uncovered fishing patterns in Israel as part of a national and global effort, together with the Sea Around Us project of the University of British Columbia, as well as the pace and scale of the Lessepsian migration, the greatest marine biological invasion on the planet. During my post-doc, I studied the levels and nature of tar on Haifa beaches, Red Sea flora in Eilat, the impact of people everywhere, and jellyfish—tons of jellyfish—especially in the Mediterranean. I’m still occupied with all these issues today when I advise a variety of organizations, including the United Nations; the European Union; government authorities and ministries (such as the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, and the Ministry of Finance); environmental organizations and others (Zalul, the Israel Society of Ecology and Environmental Sciences), private citizens (lovers and haters of jellyfish, fishermen, and others); and energy companies. I learned a huge amount at the School of Marine Sciences, and I teach there to this day about the relationship between humans and the sea. In addition, in recent years I was also involved in establishing (and closing) a marine technology-based startup for communications and energy companies; I helped plan Israel’s maritime environment; and in 2021, I returned to focus on finding solutions for tar pollution on the Mediterranean shoreline of Israel. My years at the School of Marine Sciences gave me tools to carry out critical, broad-minded thinking, and of course tremendous partners who help this magic happen.”