Dear all,

On behalf of my colleagues I’m pleased to share that we have another funded PhD studentship opportunity, ‘Marine mammal bycatch in southwest England: Taking a holistic approach to assess causes, impacts and evidence-based solutions’,  based at the University of Exeter’s beautiful Penryn campus in Cornwall, UK.

Supervisors

Dr Sarah Nelms, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter, Cornwall

Dr David Woolf, Heriot-Watt University

Ruth Williams, Cornwall Wildlife Trust

Professor Nicola Beaumont, Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Dr James Clark, Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Rob Deaville, Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, Institute of Zoology/ Zoological Society of London 

James Barnett, Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, Institute of Zoology/ Zoological Society of London 

Professor Brendan Godley, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter, Cornwall

Project Background 

Accidental entrapment of marine mammals in commercial fisheries, bycatch, is the greatest direct cause of marine mammal injury and death around the world and understanding its drivers is key to the development of successful mitigation measures. Using a transdisciplinary approach, this project aims to develop a method to understand which fisheries pose the greatest risk to marine mammals in southwest waters, and in parallel co-develop with fishers potential measures which could be implemented to reduce the threat. The waters off the Southwest of England and Wales coasts, particularly Cornwall, have been identified as a hotspot for marine mammal bycatch, yet there is currently limited information on the main drivers and information, such as spatial overlap between species distributions and fisheries, and the types of gear used are essential for informing policies aimed at managing the threat.

This project would take an interdisciplinary approach to informing our understanding of extent and causes of marine mammal bycatch in southwest waters by i) determining whether additional forensic evidence of bycatch could be gathered during investigation of strandings to help improve data collection and diagnoses, ii) developing methods for identifying potential factors that may influence spatio-temporal patterns of bycatch-related strandings and iii) developing policy options to support design improvement and potential solutions where gaps exist.

For more information see - https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/student-life/your-studies/research-degrees/centre-for-doctoral-training-in-sustainable-management-of-uk-marine-resources/study

Best wishes

Sarah

Dr Sarah Nelms
Lecturer in Marine Vertebrate Ecology and Conservation
Pronouns: She/ her

University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Cornwall, TR10 9FE, UK
Tel: 01326 255290
https://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/staff/profile/index.php?web_id=Sarah_Nelms
#ExeterMarine
Google Scholar: Sarah Nelms
Twitter: @SarahENelms

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