Web: Researchgate; Google Scholar

I am a lecturer in the School of Ocean Sciences, specialising in the field of marine fisheries. For my PhD I studied the ecology and fisheries of the whelk, Buccinum undatum. This project developed age determination methods for this species using a wide range of approaches from aquarium-based growth experiments to advanced geochemical techniques that were used to reconstruct the life history of individual animals. These ageing tools are now in use across several fisheries for this species. 

From June 2018 to December 2023, I worked as a fisheries ecologist at the British Antarctic survey, researching a wide array of topics related to the fisheries around the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. Recently I have led projects investigating ecological aspects of commercially exploited fish species, improving bycatch reporting in the Antarctic krill fishery, and utilising fixed-wing drones to monitor key populations of penguins and seals. I have wide research interests broadly centred around the development and implementation of the ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management. I also use sclerochronology and geochemistry to improve fisheries management and elucidate connectivity and life histories of fish and molluscs.

PhD student supervision

Current:

Sarah Al-Jutaili (Bangor University). “Understanding data requirements for crustacean fishery management”. Lead Supervisor: Phil Hollyman. Funded by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR). April 2024 – present.

José Abreu (University of Coimbra, Portugal). “Evaluating the impacts of the South Georgia longline fishery on target and non-target species”. Lead Supervisor: José Xavier. Funded by the Portuguese foundation for science and technology (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia). October 2021 – Present.

Madeline Anderson (British Antarctic Survey). “Importance of trophodynamics and functional traits in the structure of macrobenthic Southern Ocean shelf communities under methane seepage influence”. Lead Supervisor: Katrin Linse. Funded by NERC IAPETUS DTP. October 2022 - present.

Huw James (Newcastle University). “Assessing the environmental and ecological drives of interannual variability in the life histories and population dynamics of icefishes (Family Channichthyidae) around the sub-Antarctic Island of South Georgia”. Lead Supervisor: Will Reid. Funded by NERC IAPETUS2 DTP. October 2023 – present.

Previous:

Charlotte Colvin (Bangor University). “Shell growth and repair of the common whelk, Buccinum undatum”. Lead Supervisor: Ian McCarthy. Finished June 2023.

José Queirós (University of Coimbra, Portugal). “Antarctic deep-sea food-webs: Understanding Ecological and Environmental drivers using South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia regions as case-studies”. Lead Supervisor: José Xavier. Funded by the Portuguese foundation for science and technology (FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia). Finished May 2024.

Patrick Keith (University of Essex). “Impacts of environmental change on the structure and stability of Antarctic food webs”. Lead Supervisor: Eoin O’Gorman. Funded by NERC ARIES DTP. Finished August 2024.