First CA Sea Grant Extension Fellowship awarded

Carey Batha, a University of California graduate student and former research assistant with Sonoma State University, has won a California Sea Grant Extension Fellowship at the California Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

Batha will begin her 2-year fellowship in early July, upon completing her master’s degree in Environmental Science and Management from the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara.

As California Sea Grant’s first Extension Fellow, Batha will be part of a Coastal Commission team in the early stages of developing policy and regulatory guidance on climate change adaptation planning. Simply put, the group will be trying to help coastal communities plan and prepare for rising sea levels and other consequences of global warming, including impacts to coastal ecosystems.

“We are all looking forward to working with Carey and forging a stronger relationship with the Coastal Commission,” said California Sea Grant Extension Director and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories faculty member Rick Starr. “By joining forces and pooling expertise, we hope to identify solutions that will help communities prepare for climate change.”

Batha comes to the Sea Grant fold with many talents. She is currently a writing consultant at the Bren School’s communication center and was a photography and GIS specialist at The Nature Conservancy last summer.

She has also done academic research with professor Tom Jacobson of Sonoma State University on the property-rights implications of sea level rise and managed shoreline retreat.

Her master’s thesis group project examined some of the regulatory details of a proposal to expand the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary into an area that was previously excluded from protection.

“The attraction of this fellowship is the job itself at the Coastal Commission and the opportunity to work on climate change and city planning,” Batha said. “Being a part of the Sea Grant network is an added bonus.”

Written by Christina S. Johnson