Prof. Jessica Meeuwig is a Professor of marine science at the University of Western Australia and co-founder of Blue Abacus. Her particular interest is the “big blue” open ocean pelagic habitats of sharks, tunas and other ocean wildlife. She pioneered the development of mid-water video-based methods that allow non-lethal sampling of ocean wildlife, an approach that is now being adopted globally. Jessica has also focused her research on the outcomes of marine protected areas, particularly those in the pelagic environment. Her research has taken her around the world with significant time spent in the Philippines, Vietnam and the central Indian Ocean. Jessica’s research approach is empirical and predictive sensu her mentor Rob Peters (author of A Critique for Ecology). 
She is a strong science communicator and has been recognised for her ocean advocacy as a finalist for West Australian of the Year (2017) and as the 2019 Eminent Speaker for the Australian Academy of Technology, Engineering and Science, amongst other awards. Born in the Canadian prairies of migrant parents, raised in the Saudi desert, and now settled in Australia’s southwest, Jessica is a global citizen committed to solutions to support resilient oceans. 

Selected recent papers:

• Barley SC, Clark TD, MEEUWIG JJ. 2020. Ecological redundancy between coral reef sharks and predatory teleosts. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 30 (1), 153-172
• Bouchet PJ, Letessier TB, Caley MJ, Nichol SL, Hemmi J, MEEUWIG JJ. 2020. Submerged carbonate banks aggregate pelagic megafauna in offshore tropical Australia. Frontiers in Marine Science 7, 530
• Forrest JAH, Bouchet PJ, Barley SC, MEEUWIG JJ. In press. Stable patterns in ocean wildlife support the establishment of marine protected areas. Ecosphere
• Freire K, Belhabib D, Espedido J, Hood L, Kleisner K, Lam V, Machado M, Mendonça JT, MEEUWIG JJ., Moro P, Motta F, Palomares MLD, Smith N, The LC, Zeller D, Zylich K, Pauly D. 2020. Estimating global catches of marine recreational fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science.
• Hays GC et al. (MEEUWIG JJ in the middle of 70 authors). 2020 A review of a decade of lessons from one of the world’s largest MPAs: conservation gains and key challenges. Marine Biology
• Palomares MLD, Froese R, Derrick B, , MEEUWIG JJ, Nöel SL et al. 2020. Fishery biomass trends of exploited fish populations in marine ecoregions, climatic zones and ocean basins. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 106896
• Perez‐Correa J, Carr P, MEEUWIG JJ, Koldewey HJ, Letessier TB. 2020. Climate oscillation and the invasion of alien species influence the oceanic distribution of seabirds. Ecology and Evolution 10 (17), 9339-9357
• Davis KJ, Vianna GMS, MEEUWIG JJ, Meekan MG, Pannell DJ. 2019. Estimating the economic benefits and costs of highly‐protected marine protected areas. Ecosphere 10 (10), e02879
• Juhel JB, Vigliola L, Wantiez L, Letessier TB, MEEUWIG JJ, Mouillot Delson ER, Meekan MG. 2019. Isolation and no-entry marine reserves mitigate anthropogenic impacts on grey reef shark behavior. Scientific Reports 
• Letessier TB, Mouillot D, Bouchet PJ, Vigliola L, Thompson, C, Boussarie G, Turner J, Juhel JB, Maire E, Caley MJ, Koldewey HJ, Friedlander A, Sala E, MEEUWIG JJ. 2019. Remote reefs and seamounts are the last refuges for marine predators across the Indo-Pacific. PLoS biology 17 (8) 
• Sheehan E, Hosegood P, Game C, Attrill M, Tickler T, Wootton M, Johns D, MEEUWIG JJ. 2019. The effect of deep oceanic flushing on water properties and ecosystem functioning within atolls in the British Indian Ocean Territory. Frontiers in Marine Science. 6: 512 
• Thompson CDH and MEEUWIG JJ. 2019. First underwater sighting of Shepherd’s beaked whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi). Marine Biodiversity Records 12: 6 
• Tickler D, MEEUWIG JJ. 2019. The wide net of seafood slavery. Australasian Science 40 (2), 31 Van Elden S. MEEUWIG JJ, Hemmi JM, Hobbs R. 2019. Offshore oil and gas platforms as novel ecosystems: A global perspective. Frontiers in Marine Science 6, 548 
• Barley SC, Meekan MG, MEEUWIG JJ. 2018. Diet and condition of mesopredators on coral reefs in relation to shark abundance. PLoS ONE 12 (4), e0165113
• Bouchet P, Phillips C, Huang Z, MEEUWIG JJ, Foster S, Przeslawski R. 2018. Comparative assessment of pelagic sampling methods used in marine monitoring. Report to the National Environmental Science Programme, Marine Biodiversity Hub, 149 p.
• Hammerschlag N, Barley SC, Irschick DJ, MEEUWIG JJ, Nelson ER, Meekan MG. 2018. Predator declines and morphological changes in prey: evidence from coral reefs depleted of sharks. Marine Ecology Progress Series 586, 127-139
• Juhel JB, Vigliola L, Mouillot D, Kulbicki M, Letessier TB, MEEUWIG JJ, Wantiez L. 2018. Reef accessibility impairs the protection of sharks. Journal of Applied Ecology 55 (2), 673-683
• Ong JJL, Rountrey AN, Black BA, Nguyen HM, Coulson PG, Newman SJ, Wakefield CB, MEEUWIG JJ, Meekan MG. 2018. A boundary current drives synchronous growth of marine fishes across tropical and temperate latitudes. Global Change Biology 24 (5), 1894-1903
• Sequira AMM, Mellin C, Lozano-Montes HM, MEEUWIG JJ, Vanderklift MA, Haywood MD, Babcock RC. 2018. Challenges of transferring models of fish abundance between coral reefs. PeerJ 6, e45661
• Tickler D, MEEUWIG JJ, Bryant K, David F, Forrest JAH, Gordon E, Joudo Larsen J, Oh B, Pauly D, Sumaila UR, Zeller D. 2018.Modern slavery and the race to fish. Nature Communications 9 (1), 4643
• Tickler D, MEEUWIG JJ, Palomares ML, Pauly D, Zeller D. 2018. Far from home: Distance patterns of global fishing fleets. Science Advances 4 (8), eaar3279