Project leader blogs

In my previous blog, I wrote about how our team captured sharks from the deep waters off the Great Barrier Reef and brought them back to our lab for analysis. Using small pieces of muscle, we are using…

‘Big Brother’. For anyone reading these words who also knows George Orwell’s novel 1984, a negative image of a society under total surveillance by the authorities will probably come to mind. To me, they signify an opportunity to…

The conservation of natural resources, especially in poor regions where there is a strong dependence on these resources, is still an uphill task, with a multitude of factors in play. Numerous efforts have been made to address biodiversity…

Mi primer lugar de investigación en el Parque Nacional Natural Corales de Rosario y San Bernardo fue Isla Grande. Isla Grande es una hermosa isla de 2 km2, la isla más grande del parque, que también explica el…

My first field site in Colombia’s Natural National Park Corals of Rosario and San Bernardo was Isla Grande. This beautiful island covers two square kilometres (0.8 square miles), which makes it the largest island in the park and…

Easter Island, also known by the Polynesian name Rapa Nui, is a mysterious place hidden in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Located 2,100 kilometres (1,300 miles) east of the Pitcairn Islands, the nearest inhabited archipelago, Rapa Nui…

In April 2016 I had the amazing opportunity to be part of the development of an action plan to save one of the world’s most threatened shark species, the Angelshark Squatina squatina, from extinction. Since 2014 the Angel…

Nassau groupers, like many other fish species, reproduce by participating in annual spawning events. In The Bahamas they spawn in winter, around the time of the full moon. It’s amazing to observe these fish transition between colour phases…

Hermann Meuter and Janie Wray have devoted their lives to understanding and protecting the whales of the Great Bear Sea. They live in incredibly isolated conditions, learning to decode the secret lives of Canada’s ocean giants. The Great…

I arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, in mid-September 2016 ready for one of the biggest adventures of my life. Doing research in Colombia, particularly shark research, has been one of my life-long dreams since I left my country as…

Llegué a Cartagena, Colombia, a mediados de septiembre del 2016, dispuesta a vivir una de las mayores aventuras de mi vida. Dirigir una investigación científica en Colombia, y en particular sobre tiburones, ha sido uno de mis sueños…

The ocean is a vast and foreboding place, but also a place of complex and unexpected beauty. Unfortunately, not everyone is privileged enough to have access to the magnificent resources below the sea. Like many others involved in…