Nathalie Zenny
Scientific Diver/Guest
Present Position: Associate Professor, Section Chief Anatomic Pathology
Institution/Affiliation: The Nature Conservancy
Current Location: Florida, USA
Hometown: Kingston, Jamaica
Age: 40
Role on the Expedition: Scientific Diver/Guest
About Your Role: Assisting the LOF AGRRA crew where needed; participating in additional data collection identified as a priority by the Govt. of Jamaica and TNC.
Short Biography:
Nathalie Zenny is the Caribbean Regional Marine Specialist. Having worked from the Kingston, Jamaica office since joining the Conservancy in 2002, Nathalie recently relocated to the Caribbean regional office in Florida in May 2011. Nathalie is leading efforts to develop a Regional Sustainable Fisheries Strategy for the Caribbean Program and provides technical support to existing regional, national and site-based marine conservation and fisheries management and planning projects, including the Pedro Bank Management and Galleon Beach/Malcolm Bay Sanctuary Projects in Jamaica and the Marine and Coastal Zone Assessment for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Côte Sud Initiative in the southwestern peninsula of Haiti. Past work includes the production of a documentary film, Massa God Fish Can Done, chronicling a transformative fisher exchange between Jamaican and Belizean fishers, and the Jamaica Ecoregional Marine Assessment. Nathalie is multilingual in English, Spanish, Italian and French, and is proficient in Portuguese, German, and Haitian Creole. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French Literature and two masters’ degrees in Environmental Policy and Conservation Biology. Nathalie is passionate about the sea and passes her free time freediving, surfing and stand-up paddleboarding, gardening, reading and practicing yoga.
Personal Statement/Comment: “My position at TNC and more specifically, my longstanding relationship with our work on the Pedro Bank, a project initiated by me in 2005, originally got me involved in this research. I am most excited to explore and document parts of the Bank which are unknown to me. I have some trepidation about what we’ll encounter because the fishing pressure is significant and management is very limited but this will give us even more fuel for the importance and value of our work there. My favorite part of field research is being out in the field and in the water; the camaraderie and the opportunity to learn from others. This research is important for Pedro Bank because it will call attention to Jamaica’s primary fishing ground and an important area of biodiversity. It is important for Jamaica to bring attention to the crisis facing Jamaica’s fisheries and reefs and hopefully provide a catalyst for the Government to make meaningful commitments for effective protection and management. Regionally, globally – we need to have a ‘pulse’ on what’s happening with the world’s reefs."
Websites: http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/caribbean/index.htm,
http://conserveonline.org/workspaces/pedro.bank.workspace
Interests/Hobbies: Surfing, stand-up paddleboarding, (free)diving, yoga, reading