Save Our Seas Foundation announces 2017 small grant winners

With the start of the 2017 funding cycle, Save Our Seas Foundation is excited to announce our new Small Grant winners!

We first called for SOSF Small Grant entries in 2013 and have awarded 45 grants to date. The grant was created to support early career scientists, conservationists and educators with original and innovative projects. It represents a unique opportunity for these early career professionals to make their first mark in the realm of marine conservation and is designed to provide funding for short-term projects (running for 12 to 18 months) that target a clearly defined question or conservation issue.

The Save Our Seas Foundation Small Grant projects for 2017 are:

Grant winner: Kye Adams
Location: Kiama, New South Wales, Australia
Project: Project AIRSHIP: a novel, non-invasive and continuous approach to detecting sharks at our beaches

Grant winner: Ana Hacohen
Location: Paseo Cayalá, Guatemala
Project: DNA testing to identify mislabeling of seafood in Guatemala

Grant winner: David Jimenez
Location: Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
Project: Rays of paradise: Ecology and distribution of Spiny butterfly ray

Grant winner: Bryan Keller
Location: Florida, USA
Project: Assessing the role of magnetic-based navigation in the bonnethead, Sphyrna tiburo

Grant winner: James Kilfoil
Location: Bahamas
Project: Experimental validation of unmanned aerial vehicles to survey smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata in the Bahamas

Grant winner: Patroba Matiku
Location: Mafia District, Tanzania
Project: Artisanal fishery of rays in relation to local livelihoods at Mafia Island.

Grant winner: Lisa Schroeter
Location: South Africa
Project: Kick-starting ELMO – Using citizen science to study the reproductive biology of South African catsharks

Save Our Seas Foundation is very proud to support the work of these young grant recipients.

A pyjama catshark moves through the kelp forest in False Bay, South Africa. Photo by Mac Stone