Ellen Barrowclift-Mahon’s Placement Report

My placement at The Shark Trust was a great opportunity to gain experience working within a UK NGO driving science-based action for protection of my study species, fisheries management, and responsible trade.

I worked with international collaborators on a project analysing where there were gaps in the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation (RFMO) International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) Parties’ fisheries obligations. The research contributed to a report providing recommendations for improving these fisheries obligations for CITES-listed species. Many of the recommendations were implemented, including protections for mobulid rays and whale sharks and reduced blue shark quotas (see Shark League CITES-ICCAT Gap Analysis).

I was able to apply my R programming skills to streamline data processing and analyses for the project, evidencing the utility of transferrable skills that I have developed during my PhD.