David Feary

David is a Director at MRAG with extensive experience as a project manager in the fisheries sector, a wide experience overseas and well-developed organisation skills.  David’s applied experience include providing an overview of the state of fisheries data collection and scientific advice and knowledge in support of fisheries management throughout IOTC Member states for the IOTC, and recently for the EU Commission for the nine outermost regions of the EU. David’s experience has also been in assessing the role of the Single Use Plastic Directive in impacting coastal management practices, including for the EU Commission providing a critical analysis of the problems and solutions in developing harmonised standards in the circular design of fishing gear, while for Defra developing a rapid evidence assessment of the current data and knowledge of Abandoned, Lost, or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear within the UK and globally. David also has an extensive knowledge of reef fish and fisheries conservation, with a specialty in understanding the role of climate change in impacting food security within the tropics. He has an extensive background in quantifying ecosystem health of tropical regions and the role of adaptive management in sustaining food and economic security. He has also undertaken key work identifying the mechanisms that result in successful co-management of tropical fisheries, while also determining the ecological and behavioural factors which may increase the vulnerability of marine communities to unsustainable fishing practices.