Sam Weber

Who I am

I am a British marine biologist who grew up near Liverpool in the north-west of the UK. I initially studied molecular biology at the University of Sheffield, having been advised that it would set me up for a lucrative career in ‘big pharma’. However, after a year out travelling and diving through South-East Asia and Australia, I decided that my true passion lay in the natural world and in oceans. Like many people of my generation, I grew up inspired by Sir David Attenborough, and experiencing the incredible natural places I had previously only seen on television was a revelation. I enrolled on an MSc biodiversity and conservation programme at the University of Exeter, which led to a dream PhD studying the globally important green turtle nesting population at Ascension Island. The PhD proved to be formative in my career and ignited a lasting fascination for the island. After completing my PhD, I returned to Ascension with my wife Nicola and lived there for five happy years working for the island government’s Conservation and Fisheries Department, latterly as the chief conservation scientist. During our tenure we established the department’s first dedicated marine team and developed the government’s marine research capabilities, including a research rib, diving facilities and a fisheries lab. After our son Dylan was born, we returned to the UK to be closer to family, but I continued working on Ascension marine research through a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Exeter, where I am still based in a faculty position.

Where I work

Although I am now based in the UK, most of my work still takes place on Ascension Island, where I try to support the current Conservation and Fisheries Department team with priority research and management questions. Ascension Island is a remote UK Overseas Territory in the tropical South Atlantic, lying approximately midway between Africa and South America. It is a land of stark natural beauty, comprised of barren volcanic landscapes entirely enveloped by the Atlantic Ocean. Although the terrestrial flora and fauna of Ascension, including land crabs and rare endemic plants, are fascinating, it is the surrounding ocean that harbours the true bounty (but I might be biased). Due to the island’s youth and remote location, fish diversity is relatively low. But this is more than made up for by the sheer abundance of marine life, including record-breaking game fish and healthy populations of top predators such as sharks. In 2019, the entire 445,000-square-kilometre (171,815-square-mile) exclusive economic zone of Ascension Island was designated a highly protected marine area, establishing what was, at the time, the largest such reserve in the Atlantic Ocean. This designation closed the commercial longline fishery that had operated in Ascension’s waters since the 1980s. However, recreational and sports fishing is still permitted in coastal waters, and the ocean remains at the heart of island life. Ascension is home to a diverse community of approximately 800 people, primarily of St Helenian, British and American heritage, many of whom we still call friends from our time spent there. I try to return whenever I can to reconnect and conduct research that supports the island’s marine sustainability and conservation goals.

What I do

Academically, I normally describe myself as a marine vertebrate ecologist specialising in the conservation and ecology of tropical marine megafauna, including turtles, sharks, tuna and seabirds. I am particularly interested in how and why animals are distributed in space and the implications this has for their conservation (a field known as spatial ecology). This can involve tagging individual animals with tracking devices to study their movements and using a range of marine survey techniques to map the diversity and abundance of life in the oceans. In practice, my specific research themes are reactive and aim to respond to the needs of partners I work with. In previous projects I was responsible for assembling biological evidence that supported the planning and designation of the Ascension Island Marine Protected Area, and much of my current work focuses on addressing remaining conservation issues within this area, including climate change and human–wildlife conflict. I have also recently begun working in several other UK Overseas Territories, including Montserrat and Tristan da Cunha, helping the island governments to address priority knowledge gaps. These are never solo endeavours, but involve teaming up with a great group of academic collaborators and local partners who make the work possible (and fun). On a day-to-day basis my work involves much more time at a desk than I would like, but I try to return to the field at least once a year to reconnect and share our findings with the communities they affect. Increasingly, my role has shifted towards enabling the next generation of marine scientists and conservation practitioners. I currently teach across several of the University of Exeter’s marine MSc and undergraduate programmes and supervise a group of talented postgraduate researchers who will undoubtedly be leading their own projects in the near future.