Rachel D'Silva
Scientific Diver
Bio
Rachel has always had a deep love for the ocean and outdoors. She began her academic career at the University of the West indies, Mona, not sure of what she really wanted to do; it wasn’t until her final year as an undergrad, when she got introduced to what real marine biology and field work were about. She did an undergrad thesis “The Change in a Coral Community Structure on the Fringing Fore Reef of Lime Cay”. She fell in love and knew that this was what she was meant to do. After graduating with a degree in Environmental Sciences, Rachel enrolled in the MPhil program again at UWI. She is currently in her final year of after several years of intense fieldwork. They established the Caribbean’s first mid-water floating nursery “Annabell”, in Discovery Bay, A concept developed in Haifa, Israel and based on the idea of using forestry techniques in the marine environment. This is a novel approach with endless possibilities for reef restoration and rehabilitation. They are able to produce thousands of transplantable coral colonies from small amounts of material. During this time working out of the Discovery Bay Marine lab, she was able to meet and learn from many brilliant and talented people. For the past four years Rachel has also worked as an Environmental Scientist for CL Environmental. Recent projects include: Team Leader of the Noranda coral reef relocation project, monitoring of the Falmouth Port Development and West Kingston Power Station Development.
