DPLUS148: CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE IN THE FALKLAND ISLANDS FISHERIES AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

The Falkland Island government aims to create a long-term sustainable fishery and marine ecosystem to benefit future generations. This includes sustainable catches of commercial target species and reducing harmful impacts on bycatch species while maintaining ecosystem function. In addition, the Falkland Islands Governments wants to incorporate climate change adaptation into its Fisheries and Oceans Governance, for which it also needs an ecosystem approach to fisheries management. This project will support these aims by addressing climate change impacts and climate resilience to the Falkland Islands fisheries and marine ecosystem to inform climate change adaption. We will do this by:

Jesse has a passion for all ocean creatures, great and small, which is why her ecosystem focus comes in handy. She worked on deep-sea benthic macrofauna in the northwest Atlantic Ocean, focused on cumulative impacts in the California Current and Arctic Ocean, and delved into the potential impacts of deep-sea mining sediment plumes. She has used different statistical and modelling approaches to answer questions about biodiversity, community patterns, and multiple stressors on these ecosystems. She obtained her BA in Biological Sciences and PhD in Zoology from the University of Oxford and worked at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. At SAERI, she will lead the Darwin Plus Climate change resilience in the Falkland Islands and fisheries and marine ecosystems project. She will be working with an exciting team to synthesise existing knowledge on the ecosystem and perform additional surveys, obtain physiological tolerances and acclimation information under climate change, and evaluate ecosystem effects of climate change and fishing in this unique ecosystem. In her spare time, Jesse enjoys hiking and watching wildlife, especially birds, and she is an avid amateur wildlife photographer. She is keen to explore the underwater world of the Falkland Islands through scuba diving.