I’m Ella and I’m currently studying Marine Biology at the University of Aberdeen. I’m Maltese and got stuck here away from university during the first quarantine in 2020 and applied to be a Sharklab Intern to make my summer a bit more interesting. I quickly got involved with the FWBR Project and together with the other interns that summer we found a number of new individuals and conducted the first bull ray surveys on the island of Gozo. I’m looking forward to exploring more locations across the Maltese Islands too.

I was also involved in a case of spearfishing at Mellieha, where a spearfisher killed a bull ray right in front of me. The other interns saw a similar incident less than a week later. This really opened our eyes to the danger of human recreational activities on bull rays. The FWBR project has only increased my dreams to help preserve marine life!