Rachel Zuercher (she/her)

I am a postdoctoral fellow in the Humphries Lab and with URI’s Coastal Resources Center. My research, with a team from URI and USAID, focuses on quantifying impacts of distant water fleets (DWFs) on national fishery resources and coastal communities. I’m particularly interested in how DWFs impact food security for coastal populations around the world. More broadly, I engage in interdisciplinary research to develop equitable and effective solutions to pressing issues facing the oceans and all of us who depend on them. In addition to my work on DWFs, current research projects span the topics of small-scale fisheries health and resilience, marine spatial planning governance, and the evaluation of complex social-ecological outcomes.

I earned my PhD in 2018 from the University of California Santa Cruz with a dissertation on the ecology and human dimensions of California’s nearshore groundfish fishery. Prior to my graduate work, I served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Fiji and worked for the coastal zone management program in Saipan, CNMI. In my spare time, I enjoy outrigger paddling, birding, caring for houseplants, and spending time with my wonderful husband and dog. 

Learn more about my research at rachelzuercher.com or follow me on Twitter @RachelZuercher.