Alannah Vellacott is a marine ecologist, science communicator and ocean advocate with 11 years of experience working in marine research, conservation and education in The Bahamas and The Caribbean.
As a Bahamian living in a small community that bordered an expansive mangrove creek system, Alannah grew up with the ocean as the backdrop to her childhood. Exploring the mangroves, fishing with her neighbours, and learning the science behind the ecosystem she lived in from her father, a former biology teacher, formed the base of Alannah’s love for the ocean.
After graduating high school, her unbridled passion was given direction and purpose through a scholarship to attend the Cape Eleuthera Island School and an internship with the Shark Research and Conservation department at the adjacent Cape Eleuthera Institute.
This experience spring-boarded Alannah’s career in marine research. Since then, Alannah has made the rounds working and volunteering for non-profit environmental conservation organizations including the Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation, the Bahamas National Trust, Community Conch, The Nature Conservancy and most recently, Perry Institute for Marine Science.
A PADI scuba instructor with 17 years of experience in diving, Alannah has travelled The Bahamas and The Caribbean working on a variety of marine research and outreach projects. Some of her experiences include conducting AGRRA coral and fish surveys, reef restoration, conch population research, shipwreck mapping, and blue hole ethnography.
Alannah received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biological Sciences with emphasis in Ecology in 2017 at South Dakota State University and plans to pursue a graduate’s degree in Marine Ecology in the near future.
Currently, Alannah is the Coral Restoration Specialist at Coral Vita, a company whose vision is to restore our world’s dying coral reefs by creating a global network of land-based coral farms.
Along with daily maintenance, observation and data collection at the Grand Bahama based coral farm, Alannah works with leading experts on perfecting coral husbandry and propagation techniques to grow corals that are resilient to the world’s changing climate, and that when outplanted, will bolster coral reef resilience and biodiversity.
Well done!!
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