Dr Yemi Oloruntuyi, our Marine Stewardship Council podcast guest, speaking during a meeting

Podcast: Dr Yemi Oloruntuyi | Marine Stewardship Council

Have you ever picked up a can of fish in the supermarket and wondered what the MSC certified symbol actually means for the tuna in the can?

Most of us know it means the fish is from sustainable stocks. But how is this judged and verified and how did the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) manage to use consumer choice to certify 17% of all fisheries globally as sustainable in just 20 years?

In this Marine Stewardship Council podcast we’re speaking to Dr Oluyemisi (YemiOloruntuyi who’s the Head of the Global Accessibility Program at the MSC. Yemi tells us about the MSC and the issues it seeks to tackle and its successes to date. And then she shares her career stories from her beginnings in Lagos, Nigeria, to where she is now a key part of an organisation seeking to save three in ten of all fisheries within the next 10 years.

Yemi also shares her thoughts on the need for more diversity and inclusion in conservation, along with her careers advice for people like you. And finally, she ends by telling us about the opening of the Ocean Stewardship Fund Grants for students and researchers totalling over one million pounds. Stay tuned and enjoy!

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Audio Transcript 

Yemi   

I’m Yemi Oloruntuyi and I work at the Marine Stewardship Council. I’ve been with the Marine Stewardship Council for upwards of about 20 years now. And I currently head our global accessibility program which is within a division in the MSC called the Science and Standards Unit. 

Nick   

Wonderful, great and thank you and welcome to the podcast today. It’s nice to be talking about your work and your career. Let’s start at the top as you work for the Marine Stewardship Council. You’ve been there 20 years you just said, I guess you started back in the early days of the MSC, as it was a common sort of fledgling charity, at the time. Stepping back, you know, why are fisheries important? That’s something which the MSC are seeking to tackle, decline and exploitation of Fisheries. Like why are they important for the people or for the planet? Why should we care about them? 

 Yemi   

Yeah, I mean, fishes are important because they play a very valuable role in our world. They provide jobs for millions of people around the world. And a large proportion of the jobs they provide are actually in developing countries. They’re also important for food security, providing very vital micronutrients and sources of protein. Again, very valuable source of protein in developed and developing countries, but hugely important as a cheap source of protein in developing countries. And in addition to jobs, and nutrition, it’s also important for our ecosystem. We want a balanced ecosystem, and sustainable fisheries will ensure that the nature which everybody gets to enjoy continues to exist into the future, and not just for now. 

Nick   

Right. Yeah. And we hear all sorts of news stories about issues around fisheries, exploitation, unsustainable practices, all across the globe I’m assuming. What are the current status and threats to fisheries globally? Are the oceans looking healthy? Are there particular problems? You know, what do we currently know about them?  

Yemi   

The statistics can be disturbing. We know that over 30% of world stocks are overfished. And overfishing is a major problem. The concern is if we continue to over fish, our stocks and fishes are not managed well, then these valuable inputs that fishes provides, then that gets eroded, that becomes deteriorated. But there are also other challenges to fisheries. We’ve got concerns around climate change, concerns around pollution. But the key thing that the MSC sees as the area that we’re trying to work with is how can we contribute to global efforts to reduce overfishing of stocks so that stocks are healthy and they improve into the future.  

Nick   

Right. Okay, so how do you go about tackling that at the MSC? Like, why does the MSC exist? The Marine Stewardship Council, you know, and how do you go about tackling such huge global issues around, you know, problems in the high seas? 

Yemi   

Well, the approach that the MSC uses is to harness the concern that people have about resources. Fisheries traditionally they’re managed by government scientists, government managers. But what we’ve seen in the last decades, the last couple of years is that the concern about the state of stocks has gone outside of fisheries management to businesses and retailers and consumers and people that are concerned about whether their children are going to have fish to eat in the future. What we do as an organisation is to harness that concern with the problem. And we have a program whereby people can align their interests and support for sustainable fishing with their purchasing powers, with their purchasing habits. So they go to the market and opt for fish that comes from sustainable sources. And we provide a standard that helps scientists and NGOs, to be able to understand what we mean when we talk about sustainable fisheries. And if fishery meets that standard, then products from that fishery can be sold with a label that says, this fish comes from a sustainable fishery. And then people align their habits, their buying habits with that particular seafood. It means that fishes that are practiced in a sustainable manner get rewarded, and those that are not being practiced sustainably, encouraged to move forward, because they can see that actually, if they are practicing or prosecuting the fishery sustainably, then they get economic benefits, market benefits and other benefits. That is a reward for behaving correctly.  

Nick   

Amazing. I mean, I just had my lunch. I had a baked potato with a tuna on it, and the tuna can had the MSC certified logo on it thankfully. What does it actually mean then for that tuna and those tuna that are caught and the fishery that it came from? What does that mean, for me as the consumer, what have I done? 

Yemi   

What you’ve done is that you’ve supported a fishery that is meeting the MSC standard. MSC standard has three key principles. The first principle is that the fishery stock is sustainable, the target stock is sustainable. So that means that, that particular tuna species that found its way into the can, they’re actually not catching much more than what it can continue to produce in the future. It also means the second principle that the way they catch the fish, that they’re catching it with minimal impact on the ecosystem, species in the ecosystem, endangered threatened protected species, mammals and sharks, and so on that there’s limited impact on them. But it also means in terms of a third principle is that the fishery is well managed. There’s a management system, Government that is in charge of those fisheries are concerned, and they’re putting rules and regulations. And people are obeying those rules and regulations. So that not only with the fish is the fishery sustainable today, but they will continue to be sustainable into the future. 

Nick   

Right. Okay, wonderful. What sort of successes have you had at the MSC then? Have you seen wide take up of the certification and the program? And have you seen any changes in terms of actual fish stocks or, you know, improved fisheries health around the globe? 

Yemi   

Yeah, so there’s been a significant uptake of the program. And as I mentioned earlier, when I joined the MSC it was actually very near the start. And I think maybe the first issue was just about getting certified. And where the MSC is at right now, we’ve got about 17% of the world’s marine catch in the program. 

Nick   

17 yeah? 

Yemi   

17 percent have marine catch in the program. And so that’s been a significant development to see. But what’s also been interesting is that it’s not just about fisheries coming into the program getting assessed and certified, they have to meet the standard. And in some cases, we’ve seen situations where fisheries, at the start of their journey, at the start of their interest in MSC didn’t meet the standard or felt, hang on a minute, there are these other fishes that are getting benefits from being certified. I want to do that as well. But in order for me to get there, I need to make improvements, I need to get the good management in place. We need to reduce our impacts, we need to carry out more research, we need to understand what we’re doing in a much better way. And we’ve seen these fisheries make these improvements. And sometimes even after becoming certified, they’ve come into the program, fisheries have made hundreds of improvements. So that’s been exciting to see, the proportion of fisheries getting certified.   

Nick   

So it has been like a catalyst for more good activity. 

Yemi   

Yes. 

Nick   

That’s wonderful. Right. Okay. And what are some of the bigger challenges then? You’ve got 17% so if my maths is right, you’ve got 83% still to go. So it’s still plenty of, you know, challenge in front of you. What are some of the big areas you’re looking to still, you know, expand into and have more influence over?  

Yemi   

Yeah, and that’s right. There’s always you know, there are nothing is ever easy or straightforward. One of the biggest challenges is engaging, actually, with developing countries with the global south. And that’s important because that’s where you have a lot of livelihoods. That’s where you have a lot of jobs that are at stake. That’s where there’s a lot of dependency on fish, for food. And actually that’s where a lot of fish comes from. So it’s important that not only do we have fisheries in developed countries being sustainable, but you want the program to be as applicable in developing countries. So that’s one of the major challenges that we find ourselves having to work through. 

Nick   

Are you finding it particularly difficult then expanding the MSC approach into developing countries because of what I read on your website, you know, lack of awareness of who you are poor fisheries management, data, government support, there are unique challenges in countries in context like that? But that’s what you’re also trying to tackle right through the global accessibility program that you’re leading. So, that that’s the particular focus and the opportunities for expansion. 

Yemi   

That’s right. Yes, that’s what we’re trying to do. As you’ve mentioned, those are the key issues and key challenges that limit our, have limited today our engagement in developing countries. And what we’re trying to do with our program is to work out solutions to address those particular challenges.  

Nick   

So what how are you adapting the program then to developed context? What are you doing that’s different? 

Yemi   

You know, we carry out research to understand where those challenges are. And the  areas that we know, is a particular challenge is around data. The MSC program thrives on transparency and making information available and it’s all out there in the public. That means they in order for you to convince an auditor that you’re sustainable, you need information, you need data. And that’s something that in many cases, in many developing countries you might not have. It doesn’t always mean that the fishery is not sustainable. But there’s no way of knowing when you don’t have data. And so one of the things that we’ve done is to look at what are the ways we can you know, what kind of methodologies could we put in place that would allow us to be able to understand if data limited fishery is sustainable or not. For example, we’ve developed a risk based framework and we continue to improve on it and develop other methodologies that allow you to be able to assess the risk in a fishery and use those risk measures as proxies to understand if, indeed, actually, that fishing might be sustainable. And if it is sustainable, then yes, they can be certified as meeting the standard. And people understand, people are aware of how that science works in that particular case, even if they don’t have a complicated stock assessment models. 

Nick   

Right. Okay. What’s your vision for the future of the MSC? Now I know that you’re not CEO, but you are you know, a senior within the organisation. You know, 5, 10 years from now, you’ve already seen 20 years past. So looking forward, let’s say 10 years from now, do you see, you know, a quicker, I mean, it’s been rapid already, but a quicker uptake, a rapid expansion into developing countries, you know, what’s your personal outlook for growth?  

Yemi   

Yeah, and, you know, maybe the place to start is actually from our organisational vision and target, which is, by 2030, we want to see 30% of the world’s fisheries engaged in the program. And of course, to get to that point and large parts of that engagement has to come from developing countries. So my personal vision is to see a larger proportion of fisheries within the program coming from developing countries, coming from those areas that are where we currently have challenges. And that means, of course, working harder, at some of the solutions that we’ve got, working much closer with different partners on the ground, trying to tackle some of these issues, and ensuring that these fisheries are in a position where they can work closer to getting MSC certified or working to become consistent with our standard.  

Nick   

Fantastic. Yeah. Okay. Well, I’d love to know a little bit more about you as well Yemi, while we’ve got you on the show and the podcast. It’s, you know, you’ve obviously had a really interesting career journey so far. I was reading a little bit about you beforehand. And you’re the Head of the Global Accessibility Program. We have just been talking about. What does it mean to be the Head of the Global Accessibility Program? And what is your role like day to day if you were telling a friend or someone who you know, but doesn’t really understand what you do? What’s a typical day or week or you know, or month look like outside of normal COVID times, you know, what was it? What does it look like? 

Yemi   

Yeah, I mean, I will start with saying that a typical day is always interesting. There’s always something new and different to deal with. It usually involves working on one or more projects personally, or working with my team or other colleagues, engaging with them on the different projects that they might be involved with. Some of the activities that we are involved with, for example, includes capacity building, with stakeholders and scientists, managers in other parts of the world. So sometimes it involves looking at the training materials that we have to support that program. How do we improve it? How do we improve what we’ve got? How do we deliver those trainings? Or it might actually involve working with colleagues to deliver those trainings. Sometimes it involves developing policies that we present to our governance bodies for inputs and to improve our program. So there’s a range of things that we do from day to day, or that I do from day to day in collaboration with my colleagues in the office, outside of our office, or actually, with our partners outside of the organisation.  

Nick   

And what do you personally enjoy about your job? And if you want to share what are some of the biggest challenges as well in a role like yours?  

Yemi   

I mean, I guess what I enjoy about my job is the different types of problems we’re trying to tackle. There, you know, there, being able to look at different challenges and trying to come up with a different solution. But a key thing is actually the people that I work with. We are an organisation of people from really all around the world, actually, diverse talents, diverse backgrounds, very passionate people. So, being able to work with those types of people is actually makes every single day of work really interesting and exciting to look forward to. 

Nick   

And what do you find most challenging? Are there things that, you know, you, I don’t know, you don’t enjoy so much or you struggle against or, you know?  

Yemi   

I guess in terms of challenge it might sometimes be that you wish, the progress that we want with developing country fisheries could go faster. 

Nick   

Right.  

Yemi   

That we could have more fisheries in the program right now. But then you recognise that some of these challenges are, they’ve been there for a long time, and it will take effort, it will take hard work, it will take time to actually get to those, to the solution. But these are some of the issues, and then we will try to work towards them or addressing them even on a progressive scale counters, the frustrations that you might find sometimes. 

Nick   

Right. Yeah, I think we all feel an impatience for more impact, to do more, to do more. But yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So where did your personal passion for nature conservation come from? Did it start in you know, earlier childhood? Or was there a moment or something in your background that kind of led you into the sorts of work you’re doing today?  

Yemi   

I guess I grew up with maybe a moderate interest in my natural environment. Life Sciences, I was always interested in the idea of life sciences. I wouldn’t say when I was a child, I was the most passionate of persons but I was interested in my environment in trees around me, living things. When I went to university, I found myself in a situation where for my undergraduate work, I was involved in a particular project where we were looking into the literal fauna in a mangrove area, in Lagos, and this was back in Nigeria. Sort of studying the different life forms, and molluscs, and shellfish there. I think that just brought something out in me where having placed this more focused lens on living things. I suddenly had a deeper appreciation of the beauty of nature, and also the fragility but then also, you know how resilient nature is sometimes. I think that’s where it sort of started and put me on a proper path to you know, my passion and where I currently am today. 

Nick   

How did you get from that early passion when you were studying the molluscs in Lagos to where you are now? What have been the kind of key moments or the key stepping points in your career so far, when you look back, that have been particularly important to you?  

Yemi   

After my undergraduate work, I went on to do postgraduate studies looking at impact of, you know, some anthropogenic activities on the ecosystem, intertidal flat and then I went on to do another degree. Actually, this time became more on production and aquaculture. After that, I started my working career, lecturing. So I worked with a university and I was teaching a number of courses around marine, zoology, fisheries, biology, ecology, and also a bit of aquaculture. But while I enjoyed teaching, I enjoyed it a lot there’s that sense of nice sense of wonder when you impart knowledge to other people, and you see them go out and do interesting things. But I also felt I wanted something different as well, which was being able to work much more directly in the place of impact. I felt that that would add up me working with governments or working with an NGO. So, with governments where you could actually be developing policy and enforcing policy, or with a nongovernmental organisation where you could be influencing or advocating for policy change or impact. So that was some sort of while I was in the academic environment, I sort of yearn for a different type of career. And after teaching for a number of years, I found that opportunity actually with the Marine Stewardship Council … after that time and trying to develop this interesting idea which other organisations had sort of tried to do, or not quite in fisheries are not quite that sort of universal, more holistic, global kind of level. So it was an interesting idea at the time. And I resonated with what I was interested in. And then I, you know, joined the organisation at that time. Yeah, rest as they say is history. 

Nick   

It’s true. Yeah. How has the MSC changed over 20 years? You’ve mentioned before Yemi, it started, it was very small. It was a seedling idea. You’ve seen it grow, you’ve been part of its growth and its success. Can you compare and contrast of what it was like 20 years ago to what it’s like now? 

Yemi   

Yeah, I mean, 20 years ago, MSC was more of an idea. 20 years after, it’s an established concept. It’s an organisation that works with other partners to be able to achieve what it does on its own, but it’s able to achieve it through working with other organisations. That means it has a great network of partners across several disciplines, which includes industry, the nongovernmental organisations, government, businesses, consumer associations, so we bring multiple disciplines together. And compared to where we started, when the MSC was an idea sort of really trying to work with a small group of organisations to develop this idea. MSE has grown to be an organisation that is in a position to influence and significantly contribute to change and improvements and to see fisheries being managed much more sustainably.   

Nick   

20 years sounds like a long time, but it’s not really is it? It’s sort of a blink of an eye. And I think it’s been impressive what as an organisation you’ve managed to achieve so far. The recognition, you know, and the widespread awareness of your certification has been, you know, impressive, really impressive. Yeah. What sort of people do you employ at MSC? Do you employ many? Is it a big organisation? We are talking hundreds of staff. And so what are the different kinds of job types within there? Who do you seek to kind of attract?  

Yemi   

MSC is, I guess, relatively speaking is a small organisation. I think we are a maybe over about 100. We do employ a diverse set of skills. We’ve got people with backgrounds in biology, fishery scientists. We’ve got people with a background in business, because again, we work with that sector. We’ve got people who have a background in social economics, because again, we are an organisation that a large part of what we do, is getting other partners to work together around a standard of sustainability. So we employ people with a diverse array of skills. But I think one thing that’s common to all the people that work with MSC is their passion and their commitment to sustainability and their commitment to doing something good and wanting to leave I guess a mark in the world and people are passionate about what they do. 

Nick   

And that really comes across. Comes across from yourself and other staff I’ve bumped into through MSC. Yeah, seems like a great place to be. If people are listening to this and feeling inspired by your work and your activity so far what careers advice would you give those people? What do you think they kind of, maybe the key things that might help people to kind of you to connect to a career in conservation, similar to yourself?  

Yemi   

One key thing I would say is keep learning. I guess that’s true of many other careers in other fields. But it’s particularly important in a career in fishery science, or if you want, you know, to work or be associated with an organisation like the Marine Stewardship Council. The MSC we thrive on innovation, we thrive on learning. We thrive on adapting and identifying solutions. And so a key thing is being able to identify what’s new and learn about those new things. And other key thing is also sort of try to find out what you like and what you want, and work towards it. And sometimes it might not be as easy in the beginning, you might have to give up some things or, for example, maybe work voluntarily to gain some experience. But eventually, you know, if you get the right experience, and you keep learning, and you learn also, I think the second would be also learning to work collaboratively with others … good in a career in fisheries conservation. 

Nick   

That’s great advice. Yeah. So keep learning, learn to work with others. Find the place that’s going to make you happy. If you like you know follow your passion and explore that passion. Yeah, it’s really, really good advice. Thank you. One thing we are exploring at the moment through Conservation Careers is this idea of celebrating greater diversity in conservation and trying to drive you know generate more diversity and a greater diversity of voices as well. I recognise I’m a white middle class, British man, you know. And my voice is probably typical of the sector, I think, traditionally. But we have an ambition of you know, of sharing more voices from across the globe. And actually, we’re looking for a conservationist from every country and territory on the planet. As an ambition that might take many years to fill but we’re on that journey, and we want to kind of share more voices. Is that something that you think is important in this sector? Do we need a greater diversity or a greater a wider representation of people? I mean, you’re a lady from Lagos, Nigeria. You’ve had a really fascinating, you know, career so far. Do you think that we should be you know, also, you know, looking to generate more diversity within the sector?  

Yemi   

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the problem we have with the environmental issues, is actually an indicator that we need diversity. And that’s because it’s multifaceted, it’s diverse, it crosses across a lot of things. Different people, different reasons, different factors contributes to the problems that we have. It’s social problems, trade problems, all these factors coming together, coming into conflict with each other. And what it means is that if these factors, if these multiplicity of factors are causing the problem, then we need to be looking at diverse representation, when it comes to looking at solutions, because that means you’re able to bring in different perspectives from different contexts, different experiences, that people have different things that they can reflect into the problem and solutions and advice that they can bring. And if we want to make headway and speaking specifically about fisheries, which is even much more connected than most other sectors, we do need that diversity. You know, lots of fish come from developed countries into developing countries and vice versa. So you need people that are representing these parts of the world, being able to contribute to solutions that we are looking for to improve that the environments we are associated. 

Nick   

Yeah, do you feel your background and your culture even has influenced, you know, how you approach your work?  

Yemi   

Yeah, I believe it has. I lived for several years in Nigeria. And I know that when people go fishing, for instance, even though naturally, everybody wants to be at one with environment, there are certain pressures that come in when we talk about economic development and we talk about people just sort of thinking about their immediate needs and their need for a job and their need for food. Understanding where people are coming from, and making sure that when we are looking for solutions, that we look for that balance, I think is important. And that’s something I’ve been able to reflect because I’ve seen, you know, I’ve been involved in a sector or jobs where we know, the government just wants to invest and increase the productivity of a sector. And instead of trying to convince the government that we don’t have to destroy the environment in order to do this, because we can make this a win-win. And that’s actually why the MSC is actually interesting, because it does provide you with those win-win opportunities. But being able to sort of come from that, bring that experience into what I do, which is sort of reflect the concerns that people have and use that to inform the discussions or solutions or our engagements with other stakeholders has been useful.  

Nick   

Yeah, that’s really fascinating. Yeah. And it is a win-win, isn’t it? Because if done well, then the fisheries, owners, the managers generate more income because the product is more valuable and is driven by consumers, which is why MSC is such a great template, really, I think for for being replicated into other sectors probably as well. So yeah, it’s sort of leading the way in many respects. Generally speaking, I think when we look at conservation, and again, MSC has been, you know, a great success story. You are 17% so far, you’re driving towards 30% in the next 10 years. But overall, we are still struggling. Biodiversity is still struggling globally. You know latest FAA reports that 87% of the world’s fisheries are either over exploited or fully exploited. And as you mentioned earlier, just over a third are over exploited. So really, you know, serious decline and a serious state. What do we need to do more of or be better at do you think within conservation generally? You know, what, why are we in some ways actually failing? 

Yemi   

Yeah, the proportion of fishes that is overfished is 34%.  

Nick   

Right.  

Yemi   

And, you know, looking at that number can be stark, I guess, and disheartening, but sometimes you sort of think, okay, the counterfactual what would have happened if we hadn’t actually been making the improvements that we have to date?  

Nick   

Absolutely.   

Yemi   

That’s one thing, but also the fact that we’ve had some successes. And we’ve seen those successes, particularly in fisheries, we’ve seen that there are parts of the world where there are improvements and some parts where things are deteriorating. And that’s why sometimes you can’t really see that improvement in the bigger picture. But what it does show us is that we’ve seen some successes. And so perhaps there are opportunities to take the learning from those successes and see how we can transfer those learningOf course, adapting it to the proper situation so you don’t just take one thing and apply it directly. You have to, you can apply those learning and adapt them correctly to those new situation. So how do we do that? So even though yes, there are discouraging statistics, the fact that we’ve seen examples of success shows that it can be done. So I’d take a while. We mustn’t let it take too long. But it can be done and we should get on with it. 

Nick   

Absolutely. So find the bright spots, find the things that are working and replicate and learn from them. That’s one way to kind of drive more impact. Absolutely. Yeah. Are you optimistic about the future of biodiversity? When you look at, you know, there’s a lot of doom and gloom out there, but you’re working in conservation, you’re actively trying to tackle these issues, make the world a better place. When you look forward, you feel optimistic, pessimistic, you know, where’s your thought processes around that?  

Yemi   

I am optimistic. That’s why I’m in this role. And you know, maybe progress has been slower than one would like. But what’s been encouraging is actually to sort of see younger generation of people that are much more aware, much more conscious and much more willing to do more for the environment. And that gives me hope, things will actually move even faster as the next generation begins to, you know, make their mark in terms of their profession, but also, when they hold the pulling strings, and they make the decisions that they’ll be making much more better decisions when it comes to things that can impact on the environment. So in that, yes. I’m optimistic for the future. 

Nick   

Yeah, wonderful. And we asked that of many conservationists and almost unanimously everyone says, yes. I think that’s why you work in conservation isn’t it? If you weren’t optimistic, it would be a hard place to be working. Now we normally wrap up the podcast by asking people, you know, how can people find out more about your work? How can people get involved? But actually, something that we talked about before is that you have some grants available that are coming down the line quite soon, in fact, when it’s published, when this podcast is published, they should actually be out. So these are the Oceans Stewardship Fund Grants. Maybe you could just tell us a little bit about these grants, you know, what are they? Who could access them? You know, how could they use the funding?  

Yemi   

Right, yeah, so I mean, the grants is one of the ways that the MSC is using to address the particular challenge they talked about, which is one thing is being slow, but also in the developing countries, the need to make much more progress there. And so what we’re trying to do with these grants is to provide support to researchers and students to support these fisheries through research, finding out information, carrying out research to help support these fisheries and get them on the pathway to sustainability. So with the Ocean Stewardship Fund, we have a couple of grants, this Science and Research Fund, which is available to researchers that are working or associatively, fisheries that are in the MSC program, and trying to address particular barriers that these fisheries face. So these funds are available to investigate these problems, carry out research, collect data, test new tools. And then we also have the Student Research Grants, which is, again, our way of wanting to encourage the next generation of scientists and getting them to know about what the MSC can do, but also getting to be on the track of sustainability, and also supporting fisheries. So that’s a grant that’s available for postgraduate students to carry out research again, in support of fisheries that may not be in the MSC program yet, but are working towards MSC. Again, addressing some of those issues that we talked about earlier. 

Nick   

That’s great. And so the research grants for students, you have 10 grants available of about 5000 pounds. And then the Science and Research Grant, I am looking at MSC fisheries in the barriers, that’s 50,000 pounds, isn’t it? Is that a single grant or is that multiple grants? 

Yemi   

So for the Science and Research Grants, we have projects of up to 50,000 available, and we have potentially at least up to five of those available. And then for the Student Grants, yes, that’s 5000 each and the possibility of offering up to 10 of those. 

Nick   

That’s wonderful, great. Well, I say it should be when you listen to this, it should be out now. They’ve been released on the 8th October, which is in just a few days from where we’re talking right now. So that’s a great place to go. If people want to find out about them, we will link to them in the notes. But it’s www.msc.org/oceanstewardshipfund. Okay, but we will also link to them from there. Yemi, it’s been a real pleasure talking to you and getting to know you a little bit. Thank you for jumping on the podcast. Thank you for your time. We wish you all the very best with your work and also with the grants. And thank you so much for coming on today.  

Yemi   

Thank you very much Nick.  

Nick   

Okay, well I hope you enjoyed that everyone. If you did then please do hit that subscribe button to get notified when new episodes are live and also give the ratings it really helps us to get in front of more people. If you enjoy the interviews, we’ve collected the best advice from over 400 professional conservationists into a free eBook, which you can download from the bottom of our website. And finally, if you’ve got any questions or suggestions for the podcast, please tweet them to @ConservCareers. We’d love to hear from you. Okay, till next time, guys, this is Nick signing out.

 

Main image credit: MSC.

 

Careers Advice, Podcast, Senior Level, Celebrating Diversity in Conservation, Project Manager, Scientist, Community Conservation, Fisheries, Marine Conservation Jobs, Sustainability