Pew Fellowship cohorts for 2023 include representation from Africa

The Pew Charitable Trusts announces Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation recipients

Ghana and Cape Verde are represented amongst the seven recipients of the 2023 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation and will join a network of 202 marine fellows from 42 countries.

The 2023 fellows will launch projects focusing on a range of topics, including supporting Indigenous-led conservation initiatives, strengthening ocean management through community engagement, and advancing technologies used to study marine life.

The Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation awards midcareer scientists and other experts $150,000 grants over three years to pursue marine conservation-oriented research projects. Marine fellows are selected by an international committee of marine science experts through a rigorous nomination and review process.

Enrolled at the University of St Andrews in the United Kingdom, Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, PhD plans to investigate the socioeconomic effects of fisheries closures on communities in Ghana. She will also research fisheries management practices inspired by local ecological knowledge to inform the development of locally appropriate marine conservation measures in West Africa.

Meanwhile, Juan Patino-Martinez, PhD at Maio Biodiversity Foundation, Cape Verde aims to develop new, low-cost, open-source satellite telemetry devices to scale up monitoring of highly mobile marine species such as sea turtles, sharks, and whales.

Creating synergies in Ghana’s small-scale fisheries

Fisheries are vital to food security and the livelihoods of millions of people in West Africa. Despite this, the region’s fisheries suffer from overexploitation, pollution, and the impacts of climate change. In Ghana, after the collapse of several important fisheries, the government implemented closed seasons for fishing, including a one-month-per-year closure for small-scale artisanal fishers. Although intended to improve natural resource sustainability, the closure has had broad economic and social impacts.

Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood will investigate the socioeconomic effects of the fisheries closure in four coastal regions of Ghana to understand how the policy is affecting communities, including its impacts on women, who typically process, distribute, and sell artisanally caught fish.

She will work with community leaders to identify practices inspired by local ecological knowledge that can be integrated with state-sanctioned management interventions to inform the development of more sustainable and locally appropriate marine conservation measures.

Okafor-Yarwood will share her findings through policy briefs and workshops with communities, researchers, and national and international organizations to support more effective marine conservation strategies in West Africa.

Monitoring marine wildlife with low cost tech

Conservation of large, highly mobile marine species—such as sea turtles, sharks, and whales—is often hampered by limited information about their migratory paths and key habitats as they travel through the ocean, including in areas where they may be harmed. Existing tracking technologies, such as biologging telemetry instruments, can provide needed data but are often too expensive to deploy at scale.

Juan Patino-Martinez will be using his grant to develop new, low-cost, open-source satellite telemetry devices to scale up monitoring of highly mobile marine species. Using sea turtles as a case study, he will utilize the new tools to study the animals’ behaviour, identify key habitats, and investigate the range boundaries of turtle populations near Cape Verde and Principe islands off Africa’s west coast.

Patino-Martinez will compare this information with tracking data collected from fishing vessels operating around the islands to identify overlaps with migratory paths and map hot spots where turtles may be threatened.

Supporting talent in the marine environment

“Pew has long supported experts whose considerable talents and solution-oriented approaches help address complex challenges in the marine environment,” said Susan K. Urahn, Pew’s president and CEO. “I’m pleased to welcome the newest cohort to the Pew marine fellows community, and I look forward to seeing the difference their projects will make in the coming years.”

The other fellows include:

Phillip Cleves, PhD: Carnegie Institution for Science and Johns Hopkins University, USA
Phillip Cleves, the inaugural recipient of the Pew Marine and Biomedical Science Fellowship, will use cutting-edge gene editing methods to study the genetic factors that control the symbiotic relationship between reef-building corals and zooxanthellae, the photosynthetic algae that live within their tissues, as well as the genetic mechanisms that protect against coral bleaching.
Leandra Gonçalves, PhD: Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil
Leandra Gonçalves will explore ways to improve marine conservation in the São Paulo State Marine Protected Areas Network by engaging local communities.
Marco Hatch, PhD: Western Washington University, USA
Marco Hatch, the first fellowship recipient from the Samish Indian Nation, will help create a collaborative network of Indigenous community members and researchers throughout the Pacific Northwest in the United States and Canada, aiming to support Indigenous-led restoration of ancestral sea gardens—terraced intertidal areas created to extend habitats suitable for cultivating clams as food.
Emma Lee, trawlwulwuy woman, PhD: Federation University Australia, tebrakunna country, Tasmania, Australia
Emma Lee, the first Indigenous Australian to receive the fellowship, will work with Aboriginal communities and state and federal research institutions to create a framework for Aboriginal inclusion and leadership in Tasmania’s marine research and conservation efforts.
Stan Shea, M.Phil: BLOOM Association Hong Kong and ADM Capital Foundation, China
Stan Shea will conduct the first in-depth analysis of a 10-year data set collected by citizen-scientist divers in Hong Kong to produce insights about the condition of the area’s diverse reef fish populations.