Emma Chiaroni

I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, where I studied Marine Biology at Santa Rosa Junior College and University of California Santa Cruz. My capstone thesis examined the cohort structure of endangered giant fan mussels at Station de Recherches Sous-Marines et Oceanographiques (STARESO) in Calvi, Corsica. In between my bachelors and master's studies, I worked for several marine conservation non-governmental organizations, working within communities and sites throughout the San Francisco Bay and Central Coast regions of California. For my masters I pursued an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s degree in Marine Environment & Resources through an internationally oriented European program, that allowed me to live in the European Union and learn about marine and fisheries management from an international perspective. My master thesis work examined perceptions of local fishing and maritime cultural heritage in rural coastal Western Scotland on the cusp of Brexit.

For my dissertation research I am conducting a case study of an emerging collaborative governance relationship for a proposed National Marine Sanctuary site in the Central Coast of California. The collaborative governance relationship will allow several federally and non-federally recognized tribal nations to collaboratively manage the site with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I am specifically investigating how tribal self-determination is present and acknowledged within the governance process and how collaborative governance influences decision making around marine activities, such as fishing, offshore wind development, and conservation.

I am conducting my dissertation research remotely from California. When I'm not working you can find me freediving in the Monterey Bay.