Getting Up to Speed

24/06/15

It has been a while since I last posted on this blog (several years in fact!) so a quick note to get everything up to speed before I briefly explain know why on earth I am resurrecting it for the fourth time.

I did return from St Lucia with some actual data in my notebook and used this to finish my MSc thesis paper. I found that the return of the Diadema urchin probably did have a reductive effect on the large algae on the reef as expected (because the urchins graze on the algae). I also found that coral disease isn’t more prevalent in areas with higher algal cover, but in fact that disease occurs more when there is a higher density of coral in the area. Finally my algae samples were tested in the lab and didn’t show any sign of coral disease pathogens being present on them. So I concluded that algae probably wasn’t a carrier of coral disease.

I wrote all this up, gave a viva presentation on it and graduated from Newcastle with a distinction level MSc in Tropical Coastal Management. But that was four years ago. What have I been up to since?

After a stint of job searching (and selling watches) I started working at the North Western Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (NWIFCA for short) as a Science Officer and that’s where I’ve been for the last three years.  My small team was tasked with providing science information to a committee so that they could make decisions to ensure that fishing activity in the region was sustainable. This included all types work including carrying out written assessments to ensure that fishing was not having a damaging effect on important habitats and responding to consultations on other projects in the sea. We also did get to go out and about occasionally to carrying out stock surveys of species like cockles and mussels (which involved riding around the beach on a quad bike).

But now for the reason I’m here again writing on this blog – I’m going back to the land of corals! I am just about to start work for an organisation called Blue Ventures. They are a marine conservation organisation that started in Madagascar (but now also works in other places across the globe). This is why I am sat here in a hotel in the capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, typing this now. I hope that this blog will provide some insight into the work that Blue Ventures does and also what I am getting up to. Here’s to a new adventure!