Meira is a marine conservation scientist and postdoctoral research fellow with the Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture. Her current research is focused on examining coastal community livelihood needs in Western Philippines and Northern Indonesia. 

Meira’s research interests lie in developing approaches to integrate socioeconomic dimensions into Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning, with a particular focus on community-based management areas in the global tropics. This includes experimenting with conservation planning tools that draw from socioeconomic datasets, and transitioning these into real-life implementation.

Meira completed her PhD at JCU, where she investigated the socioeconomic factors that help to maximise the potential for MPA impact, from a global to local (Myanmar) scale. After completing her doctorate, Meira worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society Myanmar Programme, before returning to JCU as a research fellow. During and prior to her PhD, Meira worked in parallel in Belize, Cambodia and Myanmar for over seven years on MPA and community-based management area development.

Interests

Research

• Socioeconomic dimensions of Marine Protected Area planning
• Small-scale fisheries management
• Sustainable coastal livelihoods
• Marine conservation in the global tropics
• Human dimensions of shark conservation

Experience

• 2021 to 2022 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Coastal Livelihoods in the South China Sea, James Cook University (Townsville)
• 2019 to 2022 - Marine Technical Advisor, Wildlife Conservation Society (Myanmar)
• 2016 to 2019 - Marine Protected Areas Consultant, Fauna & Flora International (Myanmar and Cambodia)
• 2014 to 2015 - Field Scientist, Blue Ventures (Belize)
• 2013 to 2015 - Research Assistant, Agroforestry Agroforestry and Novel Crop Unit, James Cook University (Australia & Remote)

Research Disciplines

• Environmental management (4104)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Marine systems and management (1805)

Other

• 2021 - Dean’s Award for High Degree by Research Excellence, James Cook University
• 2021 - Centre of Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Excellence Award for Best PhD Thesis, James Cook University
• 2018 to 2020 - Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Grant M, Bicknell A, Htut T, Maung A, Maung T, Myo K, Rein T, San M, White W, Ya K and Mizrahi M (2022) Market surveys and social media provide confirmation of the endangered giant freshwater whipray Urogymnus polylepis in Myanmar. Journal of Fish Biology, 101 (1). pp. 302-307
• Exeter O, Htut T, Kerry C, Kyi M, Mizrahi M, Turner R, Witt M and Bicknell A (2021) Shining light on data-poor coastal fisheries. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7.
• MacKeracher T, Mizrahi M, Bergseth B, Chit Maung K, Khine Z, Phyu E, Simpfendorfer C and Diedrich A (2021) Understanding non-compliance in small-scale fisheries: shark fishing in Myanmar's Myeik Archipelago. Ambio, 50. pp. 572-585
• Mizrahi M, Duce S, Khine Z, MacKeracher T, Maung K, Phyu E, Pressey R, Simpfendorfer C and Diedrich A (2020) Mitigating negative livelihood impacts of no-take MPAs on small-scale fishers. Biological Conservation, 245.
• Mizrahi M, Duce S, Pressey R, Simpfendorfer C, Weeks R and Diedrich A (2019) Global opportunities and challenges for shark large marine protected areas. Biological Conservation, 234. pp. 107-115
• Mizrahi M, Diedrich A, Weeks R and Pressey R (2019) A systematic review of the socioeconomic factors that influence how marine protected areas impact on ecosystems and livelihoods. Society and Natural Resources, 32 (1). pp. 4-20
• Mizrahi M, Chapman J, Gough C, Humber F and Anderson L (2017) Management implications of the influence of biological variability of invasive lionfish diet in Belize. Management of Biological Invasions, 8 (1). pp. 61-70
• Page T, Murphy M, Mizrahi M, Cornelius J and Venter M (2016) Sustainability of wood-use in remote forest-dependent communities of Papua New Guinea. Forest Ecology and Management, 382. pp. 88-99

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.

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These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Natural tropical oysters as ecosystem engineers; implications for enhancing ecosystem goods and services (PhD , Secondary Advisor)