Emily Cunningham – marine conservation consultant, researcher and educator working across the UK

By Hannah Schartmann. Hi Emily! What steps did you take to become a marine conservation specialist and which skills are important to pursue a career as a conservationist?  I always knew I wanted to work in marine conservation but after graduating from my integrated master’s degree in marine biology, I had no idea how to…

Interview with Neil Garrick-Maidment, Executive Director and Founder of „Seahorse Trust“

By Hannah Schartmann. A warm welcome to Neil Garrick-Maidment, Executive Director at the Seahorse Trust. The Seahorse Trust has the main aim to protect seahorses. Why is it important to protect them? Like so many species in our world, seahorses are going extinct at a very fast rate, which we estimate at approximately 150 million…

The Manta Trust – Protecting rare creatures of the ocean

By Hannah Schartmann. The Manta Trust is a UK-based charity that was formed in 2011 to coordinate global research and conservation efforts for manta rays, their close relatives and their habitat. As charismatic megafauna, manta rays act as a flagship species, helping to promote and engage the general public in the wider message of marine ecosystem conservation. Through this top down…

Fighting plastic pollution and poverty at once: The Plastic Bank

By Hannah Schartmann. Shaun Frankson is Co-Founder of the Plastic Bank – a project to stop ocean plastic pollution. The motivation of this project is obvious: every minute of every day, tons of plastic get into the ocean worldwide. This amounts to around eight million tons of plastic per year. It is estimated that there…

Interview with Zara – Fighting for the protection of sharks on the Gili Islands, Indonesia

By Hannah Schartmann. Zara is working for the Gili Shark Conservation Project, which is situated on the island Gili Air in Indonesia. This area is home of two threatened shark species, the Black Tip Reef Sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) and the White Tip Reef Sharks (Triaenodon obesus). The aim of the project is to protect shark…