The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) is delighted to announce the winners of the latest round of its scholarship program, which this year invited proposals from students researching seaweed aquaculture, as well as fisheries science.

The three successful students from South Africa, the USA, and Mexico will use the funding to conduct original research across different areas of marine science.

Hunter Snyder works at Harvard Business School and is a Masters student at the Marine Institute, Memorial University. He will be investigating best practice in sustainable seaweed aquaculture, exploring sustainable seaweed production in Indonesia and Greenland.
image © Ralph Lee Hopkins

Ana Crisol Méndez Medina, a PhD student from El Colegio de la Frontera sur in Mexico will conduct social research around illegal fishing. She will be exploring enforcement systems established by local fishing cooperatives in Mexico.  
Rachel Mullins, a Masters student from Rhodes University in South Africa will use sequencing technology to examine population structures of yellowfin tuna in South Africa.

The three winners were selected from over 40 undergraduate and postgraduate students from 15 different countries who submitted applications this year.

A panel of four MSC scientists selected the projects which best met the requirement of researching an aspect of environmental improvement, supply chain management or best practice in fisheries management.

To reflect the forthcoming Seaweed Standard which is currently being developed as a collaboration between MSC and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), applications were invited from students studying seaweed aquaculture for the first time.  

David Agnew, MSC’s Science & Standards Director said: "We had some excellent proposals this year, ranging from the trial of new exclusion and monitoring devices, to the development of climate models. However, we felt the projects submitted by this year’s winners were particularly strong, and tackled some of the current weighty issues relating to the sustainable use of the oceans."

The students will receive funding of up to £4,000 to support their research projects in 2016. As part of the scholarship program, the students will provide regular updates on their progress of their work.