Dr Pierre Pistorius, our Conservation Officer, is leaving us at the end of September to take up an academic post in his native country of South Africa. We wish him well in his future career there and thank him for his tireless work for Falklands Conservation over the past year.

His replacement will be Dr Alastair Baylis. He completed his PhD in Australia on the foraging behaviour and diet of New Zealand fur seals, and previously served as a Fishery Observer in the Falkland Islands.

He has been involved in a range of seabird and marine mammal conservation projects including research on fur seals on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island, penguins in Australia and sea lions and seabirds in Alaska. Most recently he has been involved with the Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program, lending his expertise to help deploy satellite tags on Northern fur seals on the Pribilof Islands, Alaska - home to the worlds largest population of fur seals that have declined by 50% over the past 30 years.

Alastair is looking forward to taking up his post at the beginning of October:
“The Falkland Islands are a wildlife paradise of global significance. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to return to the Falklands and to be involved in the conservation management of the islands”.