CURRENT RESEARCH:
My work will help develop tools to reduce the impacts of nonselective fisheries
on small species, and thus improve the prospects for biodiversity, ecosystem
function and coastal fisheries. I will focus on the shrimp trawl fishery of
México, in the Gulf of California. Shrimp trawlers are highly wasteful,
catching and discarding many million tonnes of non-target species (bycatch)
each year. Most research on their impacts has focused on large and/or commercially
important species, yet most bycatch is composed of small fish species.
I will integrate local knowledge, new biological data, and available records
to assess the impact of shrimp trawling on the smaller species in the ecosystem,
and to make remedial management recommendations. My consultations with fishers
will explore their knowledge of and attitudes towards small fish bycatch.
Using their advice on gradients of fishing pressure, I will analyse how variable
fishing effort is affecting population parameters and life history traits
(such as age-structure and size at maturity) in four small fish species. I
will also infer changes in community structure, using tools such as dietary
analyses.
I will use my information to identify pragmatic management methods and approaches.
First, I will build population viability models to assess the potential value
of bycatch mitigation tools, including changing mesh size, reducing fishing
effort, and trawl free zones. Second, I will consult with fishers on results
from my modelling, to calibrate them for acceptability and feasibility, and
then offer results as management ideas.
EDUCATION:
2004-present PhD (Resource Management and Environmental Studies) -
Fisheries Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
(Thesis topic - Impacts of shrimp trawling on small fishes)
1998-2001 MSc (Biology) - Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada
(Thesis topic - Environmental effects on the cardiovascular development of
tilapia)
1995-1998 BSc (1st Class Honours) with major: Marine Biology; minor:
Oceanography - Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada (Thesis topic -
Physiology of squid jet propulsion)
SELECT WORK EXPERIENCE:
2001-2004 Research Biologist and Network Coordinator for Project Seahorse
International, Fisheries Centre, UBC, Vancouver, B.C.
Conservation biologist and network coordinator for international NGO Project
Seahorse; collated and analyzed information on seahorse and pipefish life
history and habitat; assisted with international policy initiatives; coordinated
and supported an international network of syngnathid researchers; responded
to requests for biological information on syngnathids by stakeholders; organized
volunteers to assist with research in Philippines and Portugal
2002 (May) Technical organiser for CITES (Convention on International Trade
in Endangered Species) Technical workshop on seahorses and other members of
the family Syngnathidae, Cebu, Philippines
assisted with organizing a technical workshop; prepared briefing documents;
liased with CITES Secretariat and international participants; assisted preparing
workshop report
2001 (fall) Survey Biologist for Project Seahorse Foundation for Marine
Conservation, Inc., Bohol, Philippines
volunteer survey biologist for Philippines based NGO; used SCUBA to conduct
underwater visual surveys of fish and benthic communities to monitor the effectiveness
of marine protected areas at restoring fish populations and habitats
SELECT VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE:
2007 - present Student representative for Fisheries Centre, University of
British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.
2005 - present Student representative on Institute of Resource and Environmental
Studies Management Committee, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.
2005 (March) Organizer for student career day ""Managing your fisheries
career: A day of advice for students of fisheries", University of British
Columbia, Vancouver, B.C.
SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS - PhD:
2007-2008 James Robert Thompson Fellowship
2007-2008 University Graduate Fellowship
2006-2007 IDRC Doctoral Research Award
2006-2007 Les Lavkulich Scholarship
2006-2007 Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) War Memorial Scholarship
2006-2007 Departmental Graduate Fellowship
2004-2006 NSERC PGSD Graduate Student Scholarship
2004 Graduate Entrance Scholarship
SELECT PUBLICATIONS:
Peer-reviewed:
Foster, S.J. and Vincent, A.C.J. (2005) Sustainability of the international
trade in seahorses with a single minimum size limit. Conservation Biology
19: 1044-1050.
Foster, S.J. and Vincent, A.C.J. (2004) The life history and ecology of seahorses,
Hippocampus spp.: implications for conservation and management. Journal of
Fish Biology. 65: 1-61.
Books:
Foster, S.J. (2006) Seahorses In Mending the Web of Life: Chinese
Medicine and Species Conservation, E. Call, author. Redwing Book Co., Taos,
NM. p 86-94. ISBN 0-9786008-0-0
Lourie, S.A., Foster, S,J., Cooper, E.W.T., and A.C.J. Vincent. (2004) A
guide to the identification of seahorses. Project Seahorse and TRAFFIC North
America, Washington D.C.: University of British Columbia and World Wildlife
Fund. 114 pp. ISBN 0-89164-169-6
Other:
Foster, S.J. and A.C.J. Vincent (for Project Seahorse). (2003) Universal minimum
size limit for seahorses. Discussion document for the 19th meeting of the
CITES Animals Committee, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-21 August 2003 (AC19 Doc.
16.2). 7 pp.
Foster, S.J. and A.C.J. Vincent (for Project Seahorse). (2003) Towards a standardised
taxonomy for seahorses, genus Hippocampus. Information document for the 3rd
meeting of the CITES Nomenclature Committee, Geneva, Switzerland, 19 August
2003 (NC3 Doc. 5). 5 pp.
Foster, Sarah. (2002) Seahorses in the 2002 Red List. Species: Newsletter
of the Species Survival Commission. 38 (July-December 2002): 7.
Foster, S.J. and A.C.J. Vincent (for Project Seahorse). (2002) Seahorses and
CITES. Briefing document for the 12th CITES Conference of the Parties, Santiago,
Chile, November 2002.
Foster, S.J. (for Project Seahorse). (2002) The biology of seahorses. Briefing
document for CITES Technical workshop on seahorses and other members of the
family Syngnathidae, Cebu, Philippines. 27-29 May 2002.
Foster, S.J. (for Project Seahorse). (2002) The 2002 syngnathid IUCN Red Listings.
Briefing document for CITES Technical workshop on seahorses and other members
of the family Syngnathidae, Cebu, Philippines. 27-29 May 2002.
Seahorses and the twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES,
Santiago, Chile (2002) TRAFFIC and Project Seahorse briefing document. October
2002.
