Man overboard: Survival of the fish-est!

Global shark populations have declined dramatically over the past 50 years, and continued research into the drivers of their habitats and distributions is vital for improved conservation and management. In the last decade there has been an explosion of satellite technologies that can cover the vast expanse of the marine environment. I will discuss how satellite technologies can be used in the marine environment, and how they can be utilised to aid and inform research in reef shark species.

Seabirds face a suite of threats including climate change, negative interactions with fisheries, and plastic pollution. To effectively protect and conserve these species we need to understand how they use the environment around them. Advances in GPS tracking, decreasing battery sizes and the affordability of small, lightweight recording devices has revolutionised what we know about birds once they leave their coastal nest sites. Here, I will discuss examples of how seabird tracking is conducted and some of the things it has taught us about what seabirds do when nobody's looking.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a conservation tool designed to adequately manage and protect marine resources threatened by human activity. However, scientists question the effectiveness of these areas in reaching their biophysical conservation objectives, because many sites are inadequately managed and monitored. Targets such as 30% of protected seas by 2030 (30x30) often result in a race to meet these area-based objectives, which can create an illusion of marine conservation. I will discuss the state of MPAs in the Irish Sea and provide insight into how we can make them more effective.