Nakia Cullain

PhD Candidate, Lab Manager Zavora, Mozambique

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nakia.cullain[@]marinemegafauna.org

Research Interests

Nakia is an ecologist and conservationist interested in improving marine conservation and management of marine resources within Southern Africa. Her expertise as a community ecologist has expanded from seagrass habitats to subtropical rocky reef ecosystems, with her current research focused primarily on threatened species of sharks and rays. Since 2016 she has been working in Mozambique monitoring Zavora’s manta ray population and has recently started her PhD on the movement ecology of manta rays and the effectiveness of marine protected areas for these species in Southern Africa. Using sightings data, photo ID, and telemetry, she aims to fill the knowledge gaps in Mozambique’s manta ray population.

Education

2021- Present PhD Candidate
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Thesis focus: Movement ecology of manta rays and the effective of marine protected areas for migratory species in South-East Africa

2016 Master of Science, Marine Ecology
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Thesis title: Macroinfaunal communities in seagrass beds in Atlantic Canada: Regional variation and the effects of eutrophication and finfish aquaculture

 2014 BSc Honours, Marine Biology 
Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Thesis title: Seasonality of eelgrass (Zostera marina) and associated community in Nova Scotia, Canada

Biography

Nakia was born and raised in the small town of Kars, Ontario, Canada. Despite growing up inland (though situation on a river), Nakia wanted to be a marine biologist since the age of 4. She never let go of this childhood dream and spent the following 3 decades learning, traveling, and volunteering so that she could pursue a career in research and conservation. In 2016 she landed up in Mozambique where she took over direction of the Zavora Marine Lab and simultaneously founded MAR Expeditions. Although over the year years she worked in close collaboration with MMF, in 2020 she officially became part of the MMF team as Zavora’s research manager.

This year, she also started her PhD at Dalhousie University which will focus on the movement ecology of manta rays and the effectiveness of marine protected areas for migratory species in Southern Africa. She also assists on MMF’s threatened species program by collecting sightings, photo-ID, and telemetry data from Zavora Bay.

Nakia enjoys her rustic and simple life in rural Mozambique. When she’s not in the field, you can find her in her office or in a hammock crunching data. One of her proudest accomplishments is creating MAR Expeditions, a platform where she teaches aspiring marine scientists how to become successful field biologists and teaches divers the beauties and challenges of working in marine conservation in rural Africa.

Current MMF projects

Nakia is based full-time in Mozambique, where her main focus is MMF’s Manta Ray and Threatened Species Program. Her research in Zavora involves time in the field conducting survey dives to collect data on various shark and ray species, deploying tags and collecting tissue samples, as well as time in the office managing and analysing data and writing her PhD thesis.

The Threatened Species Program (Mozambique) includes:

• Devil Ray Project

• Bull Shark Project

• Wedgefish Project

• Leopard Shark Project

• Smalleye Stingray Project

• Elasmobranch Census Project

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