Well, my fellowship has officially come to an end. It’s been a few weeks since I finished actually, and I’ve taken this time to really reflect on my experience.
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Monthly Archives: August 2021
Interviewing the Stakeholders for Sea Level Rise Planning
After many hours of planning, writing, editing, scheduling, and emailing (not to mention an endless amount of Zoom calls), I have finally wrapped up interviewing key stakeholder groups involved in sea level rise planning and mitigation within the Humboldt Bay region. Our final interview was a conversation with representatives of the grant funder for our study, the California Coastal Commission (pictured above). July and the first week of August were busy as we tried to schedule a one hour virtual sit down with representatives from 19 separate stakeholder groups including the Wiyot Tribe, PG&E, U.S. Army Corps, and local coastal cities to name a few. Eventually 17 groups were able to commit to a meeting with myself and the project team.
Read MoreCommunicate the wins!
We are halfway done! My internship with WWF started with a project in participatory processes in Peruvian fisheries and continued with work on the communications team. With the help of other team members on the communications team, I interviewed partners at various Fishery In Progress projects around the world to discuss their wins! This was a welcomed assignment as it is always nice to hear of all the great things WWF is doing, not just the horror stories we hear about in the news related to the state of the world. Working with the communications team has been helpful in understanding that good work is being done, even if we don’t always hear about it. I had the chance to speak with our team in Peru, The Bahamas, Ecuador, and the US to discuss what success stories WWF was proud of. I took these interviews with the team and created easy-to-digest “blurbs” to incorporate into the website. The idea is that a general audience can quickly read these blurbs that will cycle through at the bottom of the page and get a small taste of our work. Here is a sweet photo of some IEP ladies and myself working together in the community garden. While internships have been remote this summer, we have been able to have fun and feel like a family. 
High Seas Storytelling
My fellowship with Coral Reefs of the High Seas reached an important milestone yesterday, we officially submitted our paper to the journal Marine Policy! The paper focused on the many cultural and maritime uses of the Salas y Gomez and Nazca Ridges between coastal Chile and Rapa Nui to provide further evidence that this area needs protection. Although the negotiations to create the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) treaty have yet to be completed, we are making the case for high seas conservation in preparation for its eventual ratification. Once ratified, the BBNJ will create a legal pathway to protect the Salas y Gomez and Nazca Ridges from ecological damage and this paper is one of many that can provide ample justification for its protection.
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Fisheries Research in Utila
It’s been an action-packed month since my last post. I’ve been on more lionfish hunts, finished reviewing surveys for a fisheries research project with my colleague, and I’m 2 days shy of completing my divemaster certification!
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A National Campaign
The work I’ve been doing with the Inland Ocean Coalition has had a national perspective from the moment we began developing their Watershed Health Program. My recent move from Louisiana to California and a roll call of committee members from Washington, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and other states truly reflects the IOC’s emphasis on nationwide land-to-sea stewardship.
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