The Global Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. Llucia's work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
About Llucia
I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow on the RIPCORD project "Pulling the Ripcord on Parachute Science: A Step Change in Marine Conservation". RIPCORD is led by Dr
[STAFFMEMBER] Dr Philip Hosegood - P
with Postdoctoral Research Fellow
[STAFFMEMBER] Dr Clara Diaz - P
and includes University of Plymouth scientists in collaboration with the Marine Conservation Society and funded by the Garfield Weston Foundation. The project aims to redefine how marine science is conducted in Small Island Developing States (SIDS), moving away from "parachute science"—where international researchers collect data and leave—towards a more collaborative, sustainable, and capacity-building model. I collect acoustic fisheries data.
From 2023 until 2025, I was a Postdoctoral researcher with the aMER Unit undertaking research on the impacts of aquaculture and MPAs on the Defra funded FISP project, Ropes to Reefs. Ropes to Reefs is a fisher, farmer, scientist collaboration to evidence fish stock and habitat benefits of Offshore Aquaculture to inform future management and policy. The project aims to assess the ecosystem services and benefits of offshore aquaculture, assess the restoration of essential fish habitat (EFH), biodiversity and associated healthy fish stocks (biomass) in Lyme Bay which includes an offshore mussel farm, a scallop ranch, a seaweed farm and the Lyme Bay MPA.
My PhD project (2019-2023) assessed the overall footprint of an offshore longline mussel farm in its surrounding environment, in Lyme Bay, UK. The objectives were to study the ecosystem interactions between the farm and the oceanography and ecology of the area by examining the hydrodynamic and physiochemical regime, the surrounding plankton community as well as the pelagic and benthic assemblages.
For more information:
RIPCORD
ROPES TO REEFS
PHD
https://sheehanresearchgroup.com/offshore-mussels/
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/marine-conservation-research-group/offshore-mussel-farm-ecology
Offshore Shellfish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX1HL8O2pnw
https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/how-can-offshore-mussel-farms-help-to-repair-the-ocean/
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/marine-conservation-research-group/offshore-mussel-farm-ecology
Offshore Shellfish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YX1HL8O2pnw
https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org/articles/how-can-offshore-mussel-farms-help-to-repair-the-ocean/