The Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS) Steinhoff Scholarship is designed to support students who have a drive to protect and enhance Bermuda’s natural environment. Fae Sapsford is a 2023 BZS Steinhoff Scholarship winner, and her passion for ocean conservation is boundless.
Ms Sapsford is studying for a PhD in Maritime Affairs at World Maritime University. Her focus is on the internationally renowned Sargasso Sea.
“I chose to study the Sargasso Sea because I have always been enchanted by it. We are lucky in Bermuda to get to experience the ecology of the high seas right on our doorstep. We have whales and sharks swimming past our shores, and high seas animals often wash in with Sargassum seaweed on our beaches. I spend a lot of time beachcombing. I started to look through Sargassum for critters – you can find shrimp, nudibranchs, and even the Sargassum frogfish hiding within. Many of the animals you find are endemic to Sargassum mats, and are adapted to live their whole lives on the high seas.”
Her enthusiasm for ocean conservation is palpable, and her future plans involve continuing her important conservation work: “I plan to fully engage with international organisations connected to the conservation of the ocean. I would like to continue living in Bermuda and engaging with marine environmental protection here and internationally.”
Ms Sapsford is aiming high with her conservation work, but how will this benefit Bermuda?
“My work will give me greater understanding of how the governance of the high seas can be most effectively achieved – how we can work with stakeholders, and the existing legal regime to put measures in place, how they can be effectively implemented, and, to some extent, how they can be monitored and enforced. They relate specifically to Bermuda because our waters are so fundamentally connected to the Sargasso Sea, ecologically and economically. I’m also interested in gaining knowledge and learning lessons from the conservation of the Sargasso Sea specifically, which can aid in the conservation of other high seas areas.”
Ms Sapsford’s philosophical approach to protecting Bermuda’s natural environment is something that must have made her stand out amongst other 2023 BZS Steinhoff Scholarship applicants, as it lines up perfectly with the BZS ethos.
“Part of the BZS mission statement is to ‘inspire appreciation and care of island environments.’ This is something I feel I have really taken on. Sometimes I wish I was a scientist. But my work now is really intertwined with communications and international law. You can’t value what you don’t know. If we are asking people to conserve the marine environment, the first step is getting them to identify with it, care about and relate to it, and if done effectively I think this inspires people naturally to protect it. This is something I think about a lot with the high seas – we often feel cut off from the high seas, like they are so distant that they don’t matter – but they touch each one of us, especially in Bermuda. A big goal for me is to make people feel as enchanted with the high seas as I do, and thus feel inspired to protect it.
“I started a science communications Instagram account, Sargassogirl, in 2021 with this ethos, and that helped me get a job at the Sargasso Sea Commission, and led me down a path to what I’m doing now.”
Her educational journey had always been enriched with engagement in BAMZ programmes which, logically led her to the conservation journey she is currently on. Ms Sapsford advised future BZS Steinhoff candidates to never limit themselves, and always show their passion.
“Something I was so thankful to the scholarship committee for was seeing my passion and drive, and potential to succeed in conservation, despite my lack of academic background in the field. So, my advice would be to devote yourself to what you are truly interested in, and don’t be put off from applying even if your formal academic background at first doesn’t seem to match up. In my experience, the process was more about the entire picture of the candidate, and I was so grateful for that approach.”
