Background

Clare’s background in environmental research, coupled with commercial experience gained in defence and marine consultancy sectors has given her a wide array of interests, unique analytical skills and familiarity with novel techniques not formerly applied to marine environmental issues. Although her expertise developed across several fields, a common theme is the analysis of complex systems. She now applies this to marine management and governance, primarily investigating human interactions with ecological systems.

Interested in the ways in which human activities and their organisation impact upon the marine environment; she focuses on understanding governance systems to support decision making for natural resource management, and associated values and trade-offs made at multiple scales. Current research is developing novel social network analysis and futures techniques to explore marine resource management and governance through large-scale regional work across the Caribbean (EC FP7; Defra). She also sustains a successful local ecological programme. This aims to provide management relevant research to support the new inshore conservation obligations of local Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs) and centres on high value local crustacea stocks, associated habitats and fishing behaviour. It attracts multiple funders (NERC, Cefas, Natural England, NIFCA, the Marine Management Organisation).

Roles and Responsibilities

Degree Programme Director: International Marine Environmental Consultancy MSc programme.

Great North Museum Academic Teaching and Research Committee

Contributes to Marine Biology BSc programmes.

Qualifications

BSc Chemistry (Environmental Chemistry), First Class Honours

PhD Atmospheric Chemistry, University of Manchester

APMP and PRINCE2 project manager

MSc Tropical Coastal Management, Newcastle University

Informal Interests

Diving: wrecks, technical, rebreather, marine life; Boats; Underwater hockey (octopush); Aerial dance.

Research

Current Projects

Tropical

Development of a technology-based methodology for the characterization of underwater ecosystems as tool towards marine spatial planning decisions of marine areas in the Colombian seas (Royal Academy of Engineering)

Acoustic Mapping of Anguilla's Ecosystem Services (Defra Darwin Initiative)

Temperate

Using unmanned aerial vehicles to provide cost-effective solutions for marine and coastal monitoring and management (Natural England)

Marine Strategy Framework Directive - Subtidal Rock and Mud Indicators and Monitoring Protocols (European Maritime and Fisheries Fund)

Recreational activity monitoring in BNNC SAC and Coquet to St. Mary’s MCZ (Natural England)

Lobsters on the Ground (Natural England)

Greater North-Sea MSFD Partnership Project (Natural England)

The Scapa Flow Scuttling: Supporting a Community Centennial Review of its Past, Present and Future (AHRC Living Legacies)

Postdoctoral Research Associates 

Dr Paula Lightfoot and Dr Ashleigh Tinlin

Postgraduate Supervision

Andrew Spencer (with N Polunin) - crab growth and stock assessment methods; Jayne Carrick - renewable energy politics (with T Grey); Kirsty Lees (with A Mills, P Robertson) - lobster movement; Ashley Endacott - seagrass for fisheries (with J Delaney)

Previous Projects

Tropical

Object based approaches to identifying and monitoring marine ecosystem services using remotely sensed data for the UK Caribbean Overseas Territories (NERC-CASE with Environment Systems)

Impacts and threats to biodiversity in the UK Caribbean Overseas Territories (Defra)

FORCE - Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment (European Commission FP7)

Temperate

Potting intensity biotope effects within  the Berwick and North Northumberland Coast European Marine Site (Natural England)

Assessment of recreational and commercial collection of organisms on intertidal rocky reefs and mudflats within regional European Marine Sites (Natural England)

Advancing the quantitative basis for sustainable management of inshore crab fisheries: case study for edible crabs in Northumberland (NERC-CASE with Cefas and Heriot-Watt)

Monitoring lobster-habitat interactions using acoustic telemetry (MMO)

Impacts of windfarms on Northumberland shellfisheries, H.gammarus and C.pagurus (MMO)

Assessment of edible and velvet crab fisheries in Northumberland (Natural England)

Establishing Northumberland lobster populations (Natural England)

Funding

Defra; JNCC; European Commission FP7; NERC; Cefas; Natural England; the Marine Management Organisation; European Maritime and Fisheries Fund; Royal Society of Engineering; AHRC

Teaching

Postgraduate Teaching      

Degree Programme Director for Marine Science Postgraduate Taught Programmes (MSc and MRes) http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/study/postgraduate/science/

MSc International Marine Environmental Consultancy

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/degree/international-marine-environmental-consultancy-imec

Module Leader

MST8022 Environmental Research Skills

MST8023 Marine Consultancy

MST8014 Marine Consultancy Review

Contributor

SPG8027 Project Management 

BIO8057 Wildlife Research and Policy 2: Evidence 

BIO8055 Evidence for Policy and Licencing

Undergraduate Teaching

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/study/undergraduate/marinebiology/marinebiology.htm

Contributor

MST3104, MST3105, MST3106, MST3107 Marine Research Project modules, including both home and overseas research http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/study/undergraduate/fieldcourses/overseas/

MST2104 Marine Employability Skills

MST1104 Marine Study Skills

Publications

• Hicks CC, Fitzsimmons C, Polunin NVC. Interdisciplinarity in the environmental sciences: barriers and frontiers. Environmental Conservation 2010, 37(4), 464-477.
• Skerritt DJ, Fitzsimmons C, Hardy MH, Polunin NVC. Investigating the impact of offshore wind farms on European Lobster (Homarus gammarus) and Brown Crab (Cancer pagurus) fisheries. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: The Marine Management Organisation, 2012. Fisheries Challenge Fund.
• Fitzsimmons C, Polunin NVC, Caveen AJ, Bailey MC, Davies I, Lane P, McCandless DT. Building expertise to assess MPA effects: does the Whitby prohibited trawling area provide protection for finfish?. Newcastle upon Tyne: Marine Management Organisation, 2011.
• Turner R, Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Mahon R, Peterson A, Stead S. Resource User Perceptions of Marine Governance and Coral Reef Management in The Bay Islands, Honduras. In: 64th International Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) Conference. 2011, Puerto Morales, Mexico.
• Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Mahon R, Peterson A, Stead S, Turner R. Setting future scenarios for management, stakeholder usage, and the health of Caribbean reef ecosystems. In: 64th International Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) Conference. 2011, Puerto Morales, Mexico.
• Peterson A, Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Mahon R, Stead S, Turner R. The Role of Different Actors in Caribbean Coral Reef Governance Through Multi-level Social Networks. In: 64th International Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) Conference. 2011, Puerto Morales, Mexico.
• Turner R, Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Mahon R, Peterson A, Stead S. FORCE: an ecosystem approach to managing Caribbean reefs in the face of climate change. In: 63rd International Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) Conference. 2010, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
• Smith V, Fitzsimmons C. Local livelihood diversification: Conservation and Socio-economics of scuba diving in the Solomon Islands. International Journal of Ecotourism 2011, 10(3), 179-196.
• Smith V, Fitzsimmons C. What do fishers think of scuba divers? Socio-economic impacts of the scuba diving industry in the Solomon Islands. Tourism in Marine Environments 2009, 8, 224-238.
• Fitzsimmons C. Why Dive? and Why Here?: A Study of Recreational Diver Enjoyment at a Fijian Eco-Tourist Resort. Tourism in Marine Environments 2008, 5(2-3), 159-173.
• Scarff G, Fitzsimmons C, Gray T. The new mode of marine planning in the UK: aspirations and challenges. Marine Policy 2015, 51, 96-102.
• Brennan J, Fitzsimmons C, Gray T, Raggatt L. EU marine strategy framework directive (MSFD) and marine spatial planning (MSP): Which is the more dominant and practicable contributor to maritime policy in the UK?. Marine Policy 2014, 43, 359-366.
• Turner R, Forster J, Peterson A, Fitzsimmons C, Stead S, Mahon R. Coral reef management in a changing environment: livelihood responses and governance challenges. In: MARE Conference 'People and the Sea VII’. 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Centre for Maritime Research.
• Stead S, Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Peterson A, Turner R, Mahon R. Future of reefs in a changing environment (FORCE): a multi-layer adaptive governance framework – lessons from the Caribbean for the western Indian Ocean. In: 8th WIOMSA Scientific Symposium (Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association). 2013, Maputo, Mozambique: WIOMSA.
• Stead S, Fitzsimmons C, Turner R, Forster J, Peterson A, Mahon R. Future of Reefs in a Changing Environment (FORCE): a multi-layer adaptive governance framework for Caribbean coral reefs. In: MARE Conference 'People and the Sea VII’. 2013, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Centre for Maritime Research.
• Peterson A, Fitzsimmons C, Turner R, Forster J, Stead S, Mahon R. The role of bridging organisations in Caribbean coral reef governance. In: International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB). 2013, Maryland, USA.
• Forster J, Turner R, Peterson A, Fitzsimmons C, Mahon R, Stead S. Ultimate and proximate drivers of Caribbean reef health: A common understanding?. In: MARE Conference People and the Sea VII. 2013, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Skerritt DJ, Robertson PA, Mill AC, Polunin NVC, Fitzsimmons C. Fine-scale movement, activity patterns and home-ranges of European lobster Homarus gammarus. Marine Ecology Progress Series 2015, 536, 203-219.
• Caveen AJ, Fitzsimmons C, Pieraccini M, Dunn E, Sweeting CJ, Johnson ML, Bloomfield H, Jones EV, Lightfoot P, Gray TS, Stead SM, Polunin NVC. Diverging Strategies to Planning an Ecologically Coherent Network of MPAs in the North Sea: The Roles of Advocacy, Evidence and Pragmatism in the Face of Uncertainty. Advances in Marine Biology 2014, 69, 325-370.
• Turner RA, Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Mahon R, Peterson A, Stead SM. Measuring good governance for complex ecosystems: Perceptions of coral reef-dependent communities in the Caribbean. Global Environmental Change 2014, 29, 105-117.
• Forster J, Turner RA, Fitzsimmons C, Peterson AM, Mahon R, Stead SM. Evidence of a common understanding of proximate and distal drivers of reef health. Marine Policy 2017, 84, 263-272.
• Stephenson F, Mill AC, Scott CL, Polunin NVC, Fitzsimmons C. Experimental potting impacts on common UK reef habitats in areas of high and low fishing pressure. ICES Journal of Marine Science 2017, 74(6), 1648-1659.
• Stephenson F, Polunin NVC, Mill AC, Scott C, Lightfoot P, Fitzsimmons C. Spatial and temporal changes in pot-fishing effort and habitat use. ICES Journal of Marine Science 2017, 74(8), 2201-2212.
• Mumby PJ, Flower J, Chollett I, Box SJ, Bozec YM, Fitzsimmons C, Forster J, Gill D, Griffith-Mumby R, Oxenford HA, Peterson AM, Stead SM, Turner RA, Townsley P, vanBeukering PJH, Booker F, Brocke HJ, Cabañillas-Terán N, Canty SWJ, Carricart-Ganivet JP, Charlery J, Dryden C, vanDuyl FC, Enríquez S, denHaan J, Iglesias-Prieto R, Kennedy EV, Mahon R, Mueller B, Newman SP, Nugues MM, CortésNúñez J, Nurse L, Osinga R, Paris CB, Petersen D, Polunin NVC, Sánchez C, Schep S, Stevens JR, Vallès H, Vermeij MJA, Visser PM, Whittingham E, Williams SM. Towards Reef Resilience and Sustainable Livelihoods: A handbook for Caribbean coral reef managers. University of Exeter, 2014.
• Lees KJ, Mill AC, Skerritt DJ, Robertson PA, Fitzsimmons C. Movement patterns of a commercially important, free-ranging marine invertebrate in the vicinity of a bait source. Animal Biotelemetry 2018, 6(1).
• Turner RA, Forster J, Fitzsimmons C, Gill D, Mahon R, Peterson A, Stead S. Social fit of coral reef governance varies among individuals. Conservation Letters 2018, 11(3), e12422.
• Stephenson F, Mill AC, Scott C, Stewart GB, Grainger MJ, Polunin NVC, Fitzsimmons C. Socio-economic, technological and environmental drivers of spatio-temporal changes in fishing pressure. Marine Policy 2017, 88, 189-203.
• Turner RA, Forster J, Fitzsimmons C, Mahon R. Expanding narratives of governance constraints to improve coral reef conservation. Conservation Biology 2022, 36(5), e13933.
• Turner RA, Forster J, Peterson AM, Mahon R, Fitzsimmons C. Information brokerage in Caribbean coral reef governance networks. Environmental Conservation 2020, 47(4), 284-294.
• Lightfoot P, Scott C, Fitzsimmons C. Using object-based image analysis with multi-temporal aerial imagery and LiDAR to detect change in temperate intertidal habitats. Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 2020, 30(3), 514-531.
• Tinlin-Mackenzie A, Delany J, Scott CL, Fitzsimmons C. Spatially modelling the suitability, sensitivity, and vulnerability of data poor fisheries with GIS: A case study of the Northumberland lugworm fishery. Marine Policy 2019, 109, 103707.