Victoria Allen - Senior Fisheries Scientist
My name is Victoria and I started my new role with APEM as a Senior Fisheries Scientist within the marine team at the beginning of June 2011. I am currently based in the Oxford office, with the aim of moving to the new Cardiff office when it opens later in the summer.
In 2005 I completed my undergraduate degree in Marine and Environmental Biology at St Andrews University. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and a highlight was working with the team at the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) whilst writing my dissertation on metabolic rates in grey seals. After graduating I moved to London to undertake a masters degree in Aquatic Resource Management at Kings College. It was during this time I started to develop an interest in fisheries and I was fortunate enough to be given a position at Fisheries Research Services (now Marine Scotland) in Aberdeen to carry out my thesis on the ‘catchability’ of anglerfish in a survey trawl.
Following completion of my masters degree I was given the opportunity to stay on at FRS as a Fish Behaviour Analyst which involved looking at a lot of videos and sonar images of fish doing strange and interesting things within fishing gears! I then moved to the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Group to work on a project developing a GIS tool to assess the potential effects of developing a network of Marine Protected Areas in the North Sea.
After dabbling in the academic side of marine science, I decided that I would like to try working within consultancy, and so in 2008 I joined Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in Oxford as a marine consultant in their Impact Assessment and Planning team. During my time there I primarily worked on EIAs for the oil and gas, aggregates extraction and offshore renewable industries. Highlights included working as Project Manager for the large scale benthic and fish surveys for the Round 3 East Anglia Wind Zone, and managing the Marine Aggregate Regional Environmental Assessment of the Outer Thames Estuary on behalf of the Thames Estuary Dredging Association. In addition I managed the fish ecology and commercial fisheries inputs for a portfolio of marine aggregate projects that the marine team was working on.
I first heard about APEM through my membership of the Institute of Fisheries Management, whom APEM work very closely with, and subsequently through APEM’s aerial survey work with my ERM colleagues on the East Anglia Offshore Wind project. I applied for the role as I was keen to make the move from a generalist environmental consultancy to a specialist aquatic consultancy where the emphasis is on developing technical expertise in addition to good project management skills. It is important to me that I work for a company where the project work that is carried out stays true to the science behind it.
Over the coming months I hope to develop my technical skills in the field of fisheries science, primarily through involvement in the fisheries engineering projects that APEM is well known for. I also hope to help develop our capabilities in offshore fisheries survey work for marketing to the offshore renewables and aggregates industries.
In my spare time I am a keen scuba diver, and began teaching as a PADI open water instructor in 2007. Whilst living in land-locked Oxford I have not been diving as much as I would like, but hope to be able to get back into it and explore the welsh coastline following the move to Cardiff. I also enjoy running, attempting to cook and travelling. My favourite places that I have visited are Peru and Bolivia in South America, and New Zealand.
