Monique Ladds 2024 Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting combined with NZMSS

Monique Ladds

For over 5 years, I have been the team lead of the Marine Reserve Monitoring Programme for the New Zealand Government. To implement this program I wrote the Marine Monitoring and Reporting Framework, a large peer reviewed technical document that outlines how to monitor Marine Protected Areas through 10 Themes including; key species, climate change, habitats, pollution and human impacts. To implement this framework I design, manage and assist in executing the work programmes for marine rangers across 27 marine reserves, while also leading a small technical team. I have ensured that the monitoring programme for each marine reserve captures standardised data to tell a story at a national and international level, meeting the government's commitments to its citizens, and the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity. Equally, the reserve's local story is captured through data collected based on its ecological niche and the needs of the indigenous guardians of the area.