New Research Project for False Bay

Lauren de Vos, the new research assistant at the University of Cape Town’s Marine Research Institute, shares her passion for conservation and her 2012 project for False Bay.

Given that one of Lauren’s earliest childhood memories is of her tucked up in a tree with her fluffy toy leopard, instructing her younger brother below to play “Game Ranger, Game Ranger”, it was always a bit of a given that she’d end up in conservation. Fast-forward a few years, and Lauren had moved from the dusty Highveld of her childhood and completed her Honours in Zoology at UCT. She spent the year tracking Chacma baboons through the Tokai forest and Da Gama Park, followed by 4 months living and working in the Kruger National Park – but the pull of the ocean drew her back to Cape Town, where she completed her Masters in Conservation Biology.

Inspired by the challenges she saw faced by our marine realm, Lauren decided to dive into marine protected area (MPA) research for her Master’s thesis. Working with protected area managers in the Stilbaai MPA, Lauren decided that baited remote underwater video (BRUV) cameras were an exciting new solution to the problems the South African coastline faces.

After a few lessons learnt from her MSc thesis in Stilbaai, Lauren will be focusing this year on conducting the first underwater camera survey of False Bay’s fishes. Her research for this year is funded by Save our Seas Foundation and is conducted under the guidance of her project supervisor Associate Professor Colin Attwood from UCT and Dr. Albrecht Götz from the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). It’s a project she’s passionate about, and convinced that this cost-effective, time-efficient solution will be a handy addition to the conservation tools our protected area managers currently use.

Always on the look-out for a challenge, Lauren is determined to bridge the gap between research and its communication to a wider audience. Driven by a lifelong love affair with Africa’s wildest places and its incredible wildlife heritage, she believes firmly in the value of sound scientific research that will contribute to innovative conservation solutions.

Lauren will be giving a free talk to the public on her project at the Save Our Seas Shark Centre in June. Follow us on http://www.facebook.com/sharkcentre to see the latest developments of her project. Dates for her talk, and information on the other speakers will be released mid-May.