Protecting the marine environment at a local and global scale
Academic Spotlight: Professor Emma Sheehan
“I’ve just come back from an event at the European Commission and everyone knew my work,” says
Professor Emma Sheehan
. It’s not a boast borne out of any form of arrogance – it’s just fact.
The work she has led in
Lyme Bay
, over the course of more than 15 years, is the exemplar of marine conservation in action. It is a symbol of what can be achieved when all sides pull in the same direction, and the mutual benefits – in environmental, economic and many other terms – that can be generated.
To put this into context, it’s worth taking a small backward step. The Lyme Bay Marine Protected Area (MPA) was designated in 2008, with a statutory instrument implemented to protect around 200 km2 of the seabed from bottom towed fishing. Ever since, Emma and her team have been working with small fishing communities to monitor its effects, a study that remains the longest ecological dataset that is integrated with socio-economic research on MPAs in the UK.
It has shown how species of flora and fauna that were once commonplace on the seabed, and the areas around the MPA, can return. It has also demonstrated how the seabed can become more resilient to extreme weather events and other occurrences that are becoming more and more common. As such, the work – and the whole-site approach to conservation which it has used and now advocates – is recognised as one of the UK and Europe’s best examples of a long-term MPA monitoring study, in turn influencing local, national and international policy.
For Emma, however, the successes achieved so far represent the tip of the iceberg. “We’ve been monitoring every year since 2008, but it’s a constant struggle to find funding to do that,” she says. “People increasingly seem to think that the work in Lyme Bay has happened, and it’s time to look at the next challenge. But in my head, there’s so much still to do and every year of monitoring yields new data and results. That is becoming more valuable than ever as our climate changes and our impact on the environment grows.”
She may be known internationally for her work off the south coast of England, but Emma’s early years were spent at the opposite end of the country. She was born in the North East of England, with her family living in Gateshead before moving south to Oxfordshire. But despite splitting her childhood between being more than 400 miles from Plymouth, and then being landlocked, she had already told those closest to her the field she wanted to study – and where she wanted to study it – before she was 10.
“It was always marine biology and Plymouth,” she says. “They were like ‘what is that?’, and ‘where is that?’. I guess the fascination came from wanting to fish in local brooks and streams, and then days at the beach swimming in the sea. It’s a fascination that has never left me, which is why, several decades later, I’m still studying the ocean – and Plymouth, for me at least, is definitely the best place to do that.”
That’s not to say that Emma’s journey hasn’t taken her elsewhere since first coming to Plymouth in the late 1990s. After graduating, she spent some time in Tenerife working for the Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation. She describes that time as “living out her dream”, and the idea of working with whales and dolphins was something that also drew her to marine biology. But around a year later, she returned to the UK to follow her new dream of being a researcher, securing a post with English Nature (now part of Natural England) and working out of its offices in Cornwall.
In 2003, two years after she finished her undergraduate degree, she was back at the University to start a PhD. That was carried out under the supervision of – among others –
Professor Martin Attrill
and
Professor Richard Thompson OBE FRS
, who remain close colleagues to this day. It focused on the ecological impacts of crab tiling, where artificial shelters are created to protect crabs that are about the moult.
“The last time I looked, there are estimates of around 73,000 of these tiles in the South West alone,” Emma says. “Fishers use them as a form of security for crabs at a time when they’re best for catching, but also most desirable to predators such as birds. My job was to be out there in all winds and weathers, watching how the birds behaved around the tiles and getting fed by people who felt sorry for me. But I loved it, and it showed me how every aspect of nature in a region was connected.”
The project also gave Emma her first direct experience of working with the fishing community, as they played a critical role in helping her understand the tiles’ role, and how to install and check them. It is something she has continued through all her work, from the ongoing monitoring of the Lyme Bay seabed to projects in Europe’s largest offshore mussel farm, the development of an acoustic telemetry network through the
Fish Intel Network
or initiatives funded through the Government’s Fisheries Industry Science Partnerships (FISP) scheme.
It's something borne out of a desire to not simply try and understand what’s going on in the environment. In all of her work, Emma also has a conscious desire to deliver results that are useful, whether that’s to those managing a space, or those working in it on a daily business.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love finding something new or novel. But if people ask me why I’m doing a project and the impact or benefits it could have, I want to be able to respond to them straight away. It’s a question other people often have to really think about – but we don’t, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Professor Emma Sheehan
Professor of Marine Ecology
In addition to her work monitoring the ecological impacts of fishing activity, and how environments recover when it stops, Emma has another key research focus. And, on the face of it at least, it’s one that might appear to be at odds with her work to monitor and protect the seabed. For the past 15 years, she has also been connected to the potential growth and development of the offshore renewable energy industry. On closer inspection, the synergies between her areas of focus become more obvious.
While others at the University explore the engineering challenges that need to be overcome for the sector to succeed, her work explores how it can deliver its benefits without causing environmental harm. It is an area she first explored through work linked to the Wave Hub, an installation off the Cornwall coast, but it has since expanded to cover all forms of offshore renewables in the UK, Europe and beyond.
“Over thousands of years, communities have found ways to use the ocean in order to survive and thrive,” Emma says. “The challenge is to find ways of doing that in a way that everything continues to function. I’ve always been interested in spatial management and the ecological benefits it can deliver. And who’s to say an offshore renewable installation can’t deliver such benefits as, after all, if you anchor a wind farm to the seabed that could lead to a ban on bottom towed fishing in a particular area too.”
John Holmyard
As a result of her wide-ranging work, Emma’s expertise lends itself perfectly to teaching on a number of the University’s undergraduate and postgraduate courses. She teaches modules linked to marine conservation and aquaculture, but also those focused on offshore renewables and coastal impacts. Students, whether undergraduates or PhD researchers, have also been involved in every element of her work, and Emma sees no sign of that ever changing.
“One of the most amazing things about working at a university,” she says, “is that the work you’re doing creates opportunities for others. It’s a real privilege, but every cohort that comes through also brings with them new ideas and skills. So in addition to passing on what I know, I’ve genuinely learned things from the young marine biologists and marine engineers I’ve taught. So yes, it’s a good thing for them and many of them have now gone on to quite powerful positions – but there’s also a little bit of a selfish benefit for me too.”
applied Marine Ecosystems Research unit (aMER)
Destructive human practices and over-exploitation of our oceans has degraded biogenic habitats. Our research shows that effective management of marine ecosystems and development, through Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECM) has the potential to restore the health and functionality of these critical habitats.
aMER works closely with regulators and utilises non-destructive techniques, such as underwater video and acoustic telemetry, to inform policy and management practices for species and habitats over large spatial and temporal scales.
Sustainable Aquaculture and Fisheries
At Plymouth, a broad perspective on aquaculture and fisheries management is enabled by our transdisciplinary, systems-thinking approach.
From the health and nutrition of farmed fish, crustaceans and bivalves, to marine conservation, fish tracking, habitats and natural capital, our research explores how all of these diverse elements help contribute towards responsible marine and freshwater food production, and, in doing so, how they support coastal economies and contribute to the national food security agenda.
