Dr Rachel Seary is a Lecturer in Marine Conservation within the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE). Before joining DICE, she was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of California, Santa Cruz and an Affiliate at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Monterey, California. She holds an MSc in Ecosystem-based Management of Marine Systems from the University of St Andrews and a PhD in Geography from the University of Cambridge.
Rachel works within the E3 Sharing Space for Nature Initiative at DICE and is excited to work within an interdisciplinary team conducting applied and impactful research to find solutions to conservation challenges that benefit biodiversity and people.
Dr Rachel Seary conducts applied research that addresses the challenges facing marine resource and biodiversity managers in maintaining diverse and health ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and other marine resources, as well as continued provision of ecosystem services to coastal communities. She is particularly interested in finding approaches to marine management that consider the whole social-ecological system, and can bring about the biodiversity goals we are aiming for whilst also ensuring positive outcomes for the communities that use and benefit from the marine environment.
Most recently, her research has focussed on challenges facing fishing communities in California, such as managing increased interactions between endangered whale populations and important crab fisheries on the US West Coast. She has also explored the efficacy of remote sensing tools to employ Dynamic Ocean Management approaches to similar challenges, such as avoiding fisheries bycatch and ship-strikes, that aim to protect species whilst allowing human activities such as fishing and shipping to continue.
Dr Rachel Seary has also worked widely on issues facing fishing communities, having conducted research on mangrove fishing in Indonesia and Cambodia for her PhD research, and having conducted various studies in Greece and the UK before that. Engaging stakeholders through participatory approaches is an important aspect of many of her research projects. Overall, she is interested in finding the balance between biodiversity conservation and sustaining ocean resources that people need for food, economy and well-being under changing environmental and regulatory landscapes.
Dr Seary welcomes enquiries for Masters and PhD Supervision from postgraduates interested in marine conservation topics, particularly from those interested in exploring research topics concerning coastal fishing communities and marine resource management.
Member - PICES Working Group 51 (Exploring Human Networks to Power Sustainability)
Editorial board member, Frontiers in Marine Science
Editorial board member, Bulletin of Marine Science
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