Kerry Sink

Prof Kerry Sink is the Principal scientist and Marine Programme Manager at the South African National Biodiversity Institute and a Research Associate at Nelson Mandela University. Kerry has led the marine component of two National Biodiversity Assessments and the technical team that advanced marine protection from 0.5 to 5% of ocean area around South Africa with the addition of 20 new Marine Protected Areas in 2019 after 13 years of systematic conservation planning and research to support effective spatial management of marine biodiversity. Kerry works across the science policy value chain from foundational biodiversity knowledge with a focus on ecosystem classification and assessment to the development of priority actions to support improved biodiversity management. Kerry led the SeaKeys project, the Offshore Marine Protected Area Project and has led or co-investigated in several projects of the African Coelacanth Ecosystem Programme including Deep Secrets and Deep Forests. Kerry has supervised more than 20 post graduate students and is passionate about building marine biodiversity capacity in Africa.