Thea Bradford

In 2017 I completed an Honours project with MSEL to add to my BSc in Advanced Marine Biology and Ecology. This was a baseline study to determine the habits and preferences of the recreational spearfishers that frequent the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. There was a concern in the scientific community that the previously unstudied Queensland spearfishers were beginning to target herbivorous fish, particularly larger parrotfish species. Information was collected by surveying spearfishers directly and consisted of information on areas most heavily frequented, most frequently speared fish species, and qualitative opinions on changes in catch in the Queensland spearfishing community of three relevant genera. This novel study was published in PLOS One and will be used to inform the Queensland Government on reef fish targeted by spearfishers on the Great Barrier Reef and may impact conservation management decisions in the future.

I moved to Hong Kong after graduation to become part of world class research studying Hong Kong's environment as a proxy for future climate and development scenarios. After making substantial contributions to novel studies on both Hong Kong's disproportionate impact on worldwide wildlife trafficking and the spread of heavy metal pollution through trophic levels in mangrove ecosystems, I joined a project researching and developing eco-engineering solutions for artificial shorelines. Hong Kong's extreme biodiversity, variety in ecosystems and extreme weather makes it a great place to test globally relevant solutions to ease the impacts of development under climate change. Completing my Honours project gave me a strong interest in marine spatial ecology and ecosystem function that is now directly applicable to my conservation and rehabilitation work. 

Publications:

Bradford T, Wolfe K, Mumby PJ (2019) Preferences and perceptions of the recreational spearfishery of the Great Barrier Reef. PLOS ONE 14(9): e0221855. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0221855

Bradford TE, Lau ETC, Perkins MJ, Astudillo JC, Lo CC, Li CH, Ng TPT & Leung KMY (under review). Eco-engineered tiles can enhance biodiversity on artificial seawalls. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 

ADMCF (2018) Trading in Extinction: The Dark Side of Hong Kong's Wildlife Trade. Hong Kong.