Olivia Fortunato-Jackson is a Research Associate at QMEL, where she works as part of an NSF–funded project focused on the reciprocal relationships between ecosystem health, harvest practices, and community engagement in Madagascar’s small-scale fisheries. Within this project, she conducts quantitative analyses of fisheries catch data to investigate variability in fishing activity and resource use across Madagascar. She also collaborates with students in Madagascar on research examining the ecological effects of marine reserves and environmental drivers of reef communities.
She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in marine biology from the University of Southampton. After completing her studies, she worked as a fisheries observer aboard vessels along the French Atlantic coast and later in French Guiana with IFREMER.
Through her work alongside fishing communities, she gained a firsthand understanding of the challenges small-scale fishers face in navigating shifting environmental conditions and regulatory constraints. These experiences strengthened her commitment to research that supports both sustainable marine ecosystems and the communities who depend on them.
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