Crowdfunding my master's thesis for the love of marine megafauna and the future of marine conservation on the island of Montserrat.

I decided to crowdfund my master’s thesis via the Let’s Experiment platform

because my intention from the beginning of securing a Darwin Fellowship and

gaining acceptance on the MSc Marine Vertebrate Ecology and Conservation

course at Exeter University was to find an outlet to perform the writing and

research of this project differently. I want to get a good mark, but what’s even

more important to me is carrying out more inclusive biological research for better,

longer-lasting conservation outcomes on my ancestral home, Island of

Montserrat.

Montserrat has a population of approximately 4500 people and an active volcano. In 1997, our island lost over one-thirds of its coral reefs due to a massive volcanic eruption, and subsequently, two-thirds of its population.

Montserrat is still recovering from over 25 years of this natural disaster. There is

currently no fisheries management on the island, an aging population, and

migrating youth. Public healthcare, education, and cultural heritage are

endangered along with several marine species of concern on the International

Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List - including Green and

Hawksbill turtles, Squat-head hammerhead sharks, Smalltooth sawfish, Sei whale

and Bluefin tuna, and Nassau grouper.

From spending copious hours swimming and diving in my blue backyard in

Montserrat, I know we have a lot of small fish, and fishers tell us the fish stock

has been significantly reduced post-eruptions. For several years, I’ve wanted to

see bigger fish, namely sharks. Most of the time that I’ve seen the big sharks;

they’ve been fishers by-catch. I’ve found this concerning as the health of large-

bodied, long-lived species like sharks, dolphins, turtles, rays, and whales (marine

megafauna) is an important indicator of overall ecosystem health. I’m motivated

to do more marine awareness and education around these species to help our

ocean recover and our people thrive again.

I believe that non-invasive technologies and Ai-assisted vertebrate monitoring

tools have an essential role to play by lowering the barriers to making inclusive,

dynamic and data-driven conservation policy decisions. Collecting and analyzing

data in this way will be central to identifying biodiversity hotspots of ecological

importance and enabling our island to make evidence-based adjustments to

policy and implement effective management strategies. Enter my master's thesis

research - Harnessing New Technologies for Mapping Montserrat’s Megafauna.,

#MMMF.

( Greg Scott of Caribbean Helicopters took the attached photograph of an endangered Green Turtle killed by a volcanic eruption in Montserrat c.2010)