Submitted by: Jennifer Selgrath
I am asking how resilient coral reefs are to the effects of fishing. To address this question, I create vital underwater habitat maps of threatened coastal habitats (e.g. coral, seagrass) in the global centre of marine biodiversity. I then assess fishing impacts on these habitats by mapping dynamic choices that fishers make about which areas to target and which fishing gears to use. One finding is that fishers deploy increasingly more damaging fishing gears. These two branches of research support my third focal area, which focuses on developing strategic conservation and management strategies based on ecosystem responses to fishing impacts.