Sara Ratão

I completed an MSc. in Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology in 2010 with the University of Exeter, and a BSc. in Marine Vertebrate Zoology in 2009 with Bangor University. Since 2016 I have been the Marine and Terrestrial Programmes Coordinator at Fundação Maio Biodiversidade (FMB), a Cape Verdean environmental NGO based on the island of Maio, where I have been responsible for the monitoring and conservation research of marine megafauna groups.

Over the last six years, I have updated and reviewed official governmental documents, such as species lists, biodiversity action plan and environmental impact assessment studies for proposed developments, management and monitoring plans for the protected areas (mostly marine) of the island of Maio (officially approved in October 2020), as well as Maio’s UNESCO Biosphere Reserve application (accepted in November 2020). I have been an integral part of the monitoring and management of the protected areas, and I have led two initiatives to monitor and tackle illegal activities with the local authorities and fishermen, the ‘Joint Enforcement Group’ and the ‘Guardians of the Sea’, of which the latter has become a national initiative in Cabo Verde. 

My Marine Programme at FMB was recognised by the Marsh Award for Marine Conservation Leadership in 2020.

I have published 6 scientific articles, two of which are documenting new ray species for Cabo Verde, with two currently in preparation regarding marine megafauna biodiversity in Maio. I was an assessor for the IUCN Shark and Ray Group for the 2020 Shark Assessment revision for West Africa, where I represented Cabo Verde.

My previous experience is on spatial distribution and abundance of a wide range of megafauna species including marine birds, turtles and elasmobranchs. 

My PhD will be focused on how whale sharks in the Northeastern Atlantic respond to climate-linked deoxygenation and how their behaviour changes accordingly.