Adel Heenan

Adel Heenan manages the work of the analysis team responsible for generating impactful analyses and building external capacity to use the new datasets and models developed by Global Fishing Watch’s innovation. Adel has a strong interest in contributing to evidence-based and equitable fisheries management and she is committed to transferring new data-driven advances to enable the sustainable development of fisheries. She leads regional analysis projects in Asia, in collaboration with fisheries research, national government and non-governmental partners in Chinese Taipei, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Adel has more than 15 years of marine resource management experience in various capacities. She worked as an associate professor at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University; as a Red List and CITES Officer for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Shark Specialist Group and as a senior researcher for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. Her expertise lies in large-scale ecosystem monitoring in the western Central Pacific and capacity building for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, particularly in Southeast Asia. She has a master of science degree in tropical coastal management and a doctorate in marine conservation, is a teaching fellow of the Higher Education Academy in the UK and has affiliate research fellow status at the School of Ocean Science, Bangor University. Adel spends her free time on her bike, swimming in the sea, surfing and paddling.