CONGRATULATIONS TO CARLOTTA MOLFESE whose final year dissertation on overfishing has been published. “I began my degree in Marine Biology and Oceanography at Plymouth University in 2010 but at that time I would have never imagined that three years later I would have published my first research in an internationally renowned scientific journal. Indeed, the third year was all about challenge, and I endeavoured to investigate a controversial yet very important issue: overfishing. I produced a first class dissertation that revealed historical changes in the landings from the English Channel and detected a trend for “fishing down marine food web” in a region where it had not been reported before. With the help of inspiring individuals including my supervisor and co-author Prof. Jason Hall-Spencer and Dr Doug Beare, we submitted a revised version to the scientific journal PLoS ONE which published the manuscript “Overfishing and the replacement of demersal finfish by shellfish: an example from the English Channel” last July. It was extremely important for us to provide further evidence to the ecological deterioration of this marine system and to promote the implementation of recovery areas to allow the regeneration of marine life and to increase the resilience of this ecosystem. I presented the research at the PEGASEAS conference held at the University of Caen last July where scientists, policy makers and key stakeholders gathered to share knowledge and ideas on how to improve the governance of the Channel ecosystem. Now I intend to further my research into the field of Historical Marine Ecology in order to understand the real magnitude of change occurred in the Channel over centuries of human pressures and ultimately provide an historical baseline that could guide better management of this ecosystem. Link to journal article: plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0101506 Link to News Report: telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10960461/Fishermen-scraping-the-barrel-in-English-Channel.html
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:42:33 +0000