Owen Exeter

About me:

I am a NERC GW4+ PhD student in the Exeter Marine research group. My research aims to improve monitoring strategies that underpin marine protected areas (MPAs) by applying a range of tracking and camera technologies. This knowledge is particularly crucial to understanding and communicating the effectiveness of MPAs for safeguarding marine biodiversity. I am particulalry passionate about research that has direct, tangible implications for conservation and management.

Through a collaborative partnership with the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and Natural England, my PhD currently focuses on developing resource-efficient survey methodologies to support a network of MPAs around the Isles of Scilly archipelago. By deploying baited underwater camera systems (BRUVS) we can assess diverse marine communities encompassing sharks, fish, and crustaceans within an array of habitats such as seagrass beds, kelp forests, and deepwater reefs. The data produced from these BRUVS surveys will provide a baseline of marine health for the region and help develop indicators for tracking MPA effectiveness into the future. We hope this work can act as blueprint for designing novel, cost-effect monitoring of inshore MPAs in the UK and coastal states more generally.

In addition to my PhD research I have worked on projects relating to the spatial ecology of UK sharks and tuna, novel methods for mapping fisheries in data poor regions and surveying marine protected areas in West Africa.

Interests:

Marine spatial ecology

Fisheries management

Remote sensing

Biologging

Qualifications:

MSc Conservation Science and Policy (2017) – University of Exeter

BA Politics and International Relations (2011) – University of Nottingham

Career:

2021 - present PhD Biological sciences (NERC GW4+ funded) - Assessing the ecological value of, and threats to marine protected areas in the Isles of Scilly (Univeristy of Exeter)

2017 - 2021 Research Assistant - SEAWave, Shark catch and release survivability in recreational fisheries, Shining light on data poor fisheries in Myanmar, Atlantic bluefin tuna in the English Channel and Celtic Sea, English Marine Spatial Planning and the Ocean Health Index, Autonomous underwater videography and tracking of basking sharks (Univeristy of Exeter)

2016 - 2017 MSc Conservation Science and Policy (Univeristy of Exeter)

2008 - 2011 BA Politics and International Relations