Research Fund 22/08 :: Akshay Tanna and Daniel Fernando

Remember our friend Daniel Fernando, who received funding from us back in 2018?

Check out this amazing testimony he just sent us:

In 2018, Flying Sharks helped support our attendance at IMCC (International Marine Conservation Congress) in Malaysia for which we are extremely grateful. Attending that conference enabled us to build contacts and partnerships with other researchers which continue to bear fruit even today. Our elasmobranch program has expanded since then and we have supported elasmobranch research and policy implementation including

• Building arguably the largest dataset of elasmobranch fishery landings in the region (we currently have documented over 30,000 individuals over 1,200 survey days).
• Providing mentorship to over 20 Sri Lankan and international undergraduate and graduate students by facilitating research through providing technical and financial support.
• Carrying out age-growth and gut content analysis of threatened elasmobranch species
• Building tools and software for fisheries data collection and CITES NDF development.
• Publishing our work in peer reviewed international journals including work based on data collected completely in-house. These include work on mobulid rays and sawfishes. We have made posters of our work which you can find here and here.

Daniel, one of the co-funders of Blue Resources Trust – a marine research and conservation organisation based in Sri Lanka – contacted us again and asked for support to attend the Sharks International Conference in València with Akshay Tanna, Director of Operations.

We simply couldn’t say no to that, so we sent Daniel and Akshay 500 euros.

As usual, we donated funds to Loving the Planet, APECE, and Faidout as well.