Jessica Monhart

Jessica is a Senior Consultant at MRAG with a strong background in marine ecology and sustainable fisheries. Prior to joining, she worked at the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) where her role involved providing technical oversight on the impacts of fisheries to ecosystems, managing a portfolio of MSC certified fisheries, and working on various policy development projects.
Her research background mainly lies in assessing how fisheries and environmental variables affect marine populations, particularly bycatch species. Following a position as a research assistant at the University of Aberdeen, where she worked on Scottish commercial fisheries, she completed her PhD in applied marine and fisheries ecology. Her work focused on the population ecology of small elasmobranchs, specifically concentrating her research on ecological niche models, trophic ecology and on assessing these populations’ susceptibility to European fishing regimes. 
She has extensive experience in handling and analysing survey data and has developed strong ecological modelling skills. She has collaborated with various government marine institutes and has participated in several international scientific surveys, which has enabled her to work alongside a wide range of fisheries scientists and observers. Originally from Switzerland, she is fluent in French and English, and has good knowledge of German and Spanish. She has strong social and organisational skills and is used to working in different types of environments.