People

I grew up in the Peak District in the UK, many miles from the sea. I graduated from Liverpool University with a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology in 2004, and completed an MSc in Marine Environmental Management at York University in 2007. I continued at York to complete her PhD on shifting baselines and the impact of industrial fishing on the UK marine environment in June 2011. I have recently started my post doctoral fellowship at the University of Queensland and plans to investigate the history of exploitation of Australian fisheries and marine mega-fauna.

My research focuses upon changes to the marine environment during the last 150 years as a result of human drivers. Data sources used include archival information such as newspaper articles, government reports and catch data and oral histories to gather resource-users perceptions of changes to catch rates, locations fished and species abundance over time. My research is currently centred along the Queensland coast, with a particular emphasis upon commercially targeted species such as pink snapper (Pagrus auratus). I hope to improve resource-users and governments knowledge of long-term patterns over time, in order to reduce uncertainty for future management. I am a member of Prof John Pandolfi’s Lab.