Dr Lorien Pichegru Receives Emerging Scientist Award

1. News

During the 15th South African Marine Science Symposium, held in July of this year, various medals and awards were presented and our very own Dr Lorien Pichegru was honoured with the SANCOR Emerging Scientist Award. This award was established to acknowledge a new generation of scientists and to encourage research excellence in science in the marine and coastal environment. Read more about the symposium and other achievements here.

Dr Lorien Pichegru has been studying the breeding success of African Penguins in Algoa Bay for the past six years, to determine whether competition with purse-seine fisheries has caused the decline in African penguin numbers. Lorien gained her PhD at the University of Strasbourg, France, in 2008 and is currently a research associate at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology (click here for a list of her publications). Part of the study involves closing a 20km radius around St Croix Island to fishing by purse seiners who target one of the penguins prey items, the sardine. It has been found that even this small Marine Protected Area around the colony helps dramatically.Click here for more information about the research being conducted on the African penguin.