We hosted a panel discussion all about Irish sharks with Irish shark researchers in Dublin’s Patagonia Store.

The full recording is now on our YouTube Channel. Tune in to learn about shark movements and behaviours in Irish waters, and what we can do to help many of these endangered and misunderstood creatures.

The Panel of Shark Experts included;

Host, Grace Carr, Marine Advocacy & Policy Officer at the ‪Irish Wildlife Trust‬ and Fair Seas.

Panelists;

Dr Jenny Bortoluzzi, ‪Irish Environmental Network‬ and the MARÉIRE project.

Dr Grace McNicholas, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin and the MOSAIC Project.

Rachel Coleman Horgan, PhD researcher at the Atlantic Technological University, Galway.

 

 

More about the speakers:

Grace Carr, completed a Masters of Research looking at blue shark distributions in the North Atlantic and how they are impacted by environmental variables. She has worked on tagging projects at home and abroad collecting data on large predatory fish such as atlantic bluefin tuna, scalloped hammerheads and tiger sharks.

Before heading to university she taught scuba diving and used this as a way to spend as much time as possible in the water with these animals. After seeing first hand a major decline in shark numbers, she made the decision to study marine biology and work more in conservation to try and protect the marine environment

Dr Jenny Bortoluzzi, is a shark scientist and advocate, currently working for the Irish Environmental Network on the environmental dimensions of marine spatial planning and offshore renewable energy in Ireland. She obtained her PhD in 2023 from Trinity College Dublin, looking at the biology, ecology and conservation of blue sharks and porbeagles in Ireland. She is a board member of the Irish Basking Shark Group and an ambassador and lessons coordinator for Sharks4Kids.

She works in policy advocacy work at a national, EU and international level, is a member representative to the IUCN, is a scuba diver and freediver and continues to engage with active research wherever possible. Jenny’s passionate about using transdisciplinary approaches to conservation and research, working with communities from inception to implementation in an approach for people and nature.

Dr Grace McNicholas, is a Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, working on the MOSAIC project supported by PEACEPLUS. Grace has an interest in large highly mobile marine fish and how their spatial distributions and migrations may be impacted by climate change. She has experience working in the field with a range of elasmobranch species, spending time in the Bahamas, Australia and Ireland.

Having just finished her PhD on Atlantic bluefin tuna spatial ecology and habitat distribution modelling, Grace has moved back into the world of sharks and looks forward to applying these skills on data from several species found around the Irish coat, including Basking shark and Porbeagles. When Grace isn’t at her desk modelling, you can find her in/on/under/or next to the water in whatever capacity that might me!

Rachel Coleman Horgan, is a third-year PhD researcher at the Atlantic Technological University, Galway, investigating shark and ray biodiversity using genomic approaches. Her research focuses on applying environmental DNA (eDNA) and whole genome sequencing to improve the monitoring and conservation of elasmobranchs in Irish and Northeast Atlantic waters.

Working closely with the Marine Institute in Galway, her work combines field-based marine with laboratory work and bioinformatics to study species distributions, develop genomic reference resources, and explore population structure in threatened skate and shark species. She is particularly interested in how emerging genomic technologies can support biodiversity monitoring and conservation management. Rachel has a master’s degree in Marine Conservation but has also spent time working in technology consulting in Dublin.

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