Team
Tim Merrick @ Focal Plane Photo
FIMRO is made up of four volunteer trustees
Susannah Parnaby
FIMRO Trustee
Susannah has an environmental science background and her PhD focused on tools for measuring the risks associated with on-farm pesticide use. She has been interested in wildlife all her life, particularly birds, and now works for a wildlife tour company on Shetland, as well as running a croft on Fair Isle, with a few other part-time jobs on the side.
She became involved in the proposed Marine Protected Area for Fair Isle when working at Fair Isle Bird Observatory and is now a trustee of FIMRO and a director of Fair Isle Development Company. Susannah sees the main role of FIMRO as providing a community voice on the Fair Isle Demonstration and Research MPA Steering Committee. As the only D&RMPA in Scotland currently and one developed by the community itself, it is important for the island community to have their aspirations for the stewardship and protection of the marine environment at the heart of the research priorities for the MPA.
She also values the opportunities FIMRO can create to give islanders and visitors a greater appreciation and understanding of Fair Isle’s marine and coastal wildlife, and hopes the group will be able to develop an increasing number of isle-based events and citizen science projects.
Neil Thomson
FIMRO Trustee
Neil grew up in Fair Isle and joined the Met Office after leaving secondary school in Lerwick. He returned to the isle in 1975 to become a crofter and lighthouse keeper, after the service was automated, he joined the crew of the ferry GOOD SHEPHERD, eventually becoming the skipper for over 20 years. He has observed many changes in the sea, fishing, birds, cetaceans and recently temperature rise.
Since his retirement from the ferry, he has been heavily involved in the setting up of an area around the isle to preserve and enhance fishing and seabirds with the aim to protect the stocks, and to engage islanders and visitors to understand their environment. Now that his grandchildren are living on the island he wishes to maintain their involvement and interest in the wildlife of the Isle.
As one of the trustees of FIMRO, Neil is a keen ambassador for the MPA, representing the community in meetings in Edinburgh and the Coastal Communities Network conferences at Gartmore. On the Isle he is involved with the invasive species monitoring program and collecting underwater images of coastal wildlife.
Steven Wilson
FIMRO Trustee
Steven is a Fair Isle resident, crofter, mate on the local ferry “Good Shepherd” for Shetland Council, keen hobby fishermen and ex commercial fishing boat skipper on trawlers, scallopers and long lining. When asked about his motivations for joining FIMRO Steven said:
”I have long been interested in the possibilities that can be brought to the table by creating a sustainable and socio-economic environment around Fair Isle, for future generations to thrive alongside nature, avoiding exploitation of our delicate ecosystem.
I have not only come from a background of fishing, but I used to work for the National Environmental Research Council (NERC). During my employment in the 80’s I was involved in various science projects around the UK Atlantic shelf and in the North Sea. Projects included core samples of sea bed sediment and water column salinity, plankton trawling, current surveys and fish gut surveys of deep water species that we caught about a mile down on the sea bed.
I am now involved in deploying cetacean acoustic devices around Fair Isle’s inshore waters as part of the Fair Isle DR MPA cetacean monitoring project. As a keen hobby fishermen, I have been able to provide information on the concentrations of habitat fish, and what they are eating throughout the seasons. This information also helps us to understand the relationship between nesting seabirds and their success year in year out fledging chicks.
It has been a natural progression for me to become involved in the very important work FIMRO and UHI Shetland are doing around the island I was brought up on. I hope that my seaman skills will therefore allow me to make an obvious and suitable contribution to future FIMRO, and becoming a trustee to have input with future ideas going forward.”
Fiona Mitchell
FIMRO Trustee
Fiona is an Islander, shopkeeper, postmistress, firefighter, community councillor and now a trustee of the Fair Isle Marine Research Organisation (FIMRO). She sits on the Steering Group for the DR MPA and provides valuable insight and advice as an islander and as a director of the community research organisation. Fiona says:
“I won’t pretend to know much about the science and research projects identified to progress the DR MPA but then someone needs to keep other aspects of the project ticking over. I liken it to the Post Office ‘back office’ function! It supports the overall operation. As someone living and working here, I hope, alongside other FIMRO trustees, to offer an island perspective.
For the Steering Group, I’d like to see everyone keep the focus Fair Isle specific. Research outcomes and recommendations to sustain and/or protect the marine environment will offer little if we don’t restore, enhance and engage to deliver a range of workable, realistic, and Fair Isle friendly management options.”