Contact details
Office PML, room 213
Tel +64 3 479 5369
Email gaya.gnanalingam@otago.ac.nz
Academic qualifications
BSc (Zoology) LLB, Otago
MSc (Ecology), Otago
PhD (Ecological Sciences), Old Dominion University (USA)
Research interests
My primary research interests are in fisheries restoration and management for long term sustainability. I integrate a number of research areas, including stock enhancement, marine ecology, marine policy, fisheries regulation, and indigenous knowledge, and pair scientific methods (empirical field observations, laboratory experimentation, and computer modelling) with policy analysis and legislative review.
I am also a member of the Coastal People: Southern Skies collaboration that connects communities with world-leading, cross-discipline research to rebuild coastal ecosystems.
Coastal People: Southern Skies
Courses
- AQFI 251 Principles of aquaculture (Co-ordinator)
- ECOL 111 Ecology and conservation of biodiversity
- MARI 112 Global marine systems
- MARI 202 Marine invertebrates
- MARI 301 Marine ecology
Postgraduate students
Current students
- Lucy Coyle, PhD: State of kōura (Crayfish, Jasus edwardsii) on the North Otago Coastline
- Louis Alexander, MSc: Diet selectivity and feeding ecology of Greenbone (Odax pullus)
- Lisa Miller, MSc: Identifying and selecting for climate resilience in early life stages of Macrocystis pyrifera
- Kaitlin Olsen, MSc: Development of small-scale oyster aquaculture techniques for community restoration
- Will McCoy, MSc: Undaria heat testing: enhancing pest control
- Katie Fenton, PhD: Pāua in numbers: understanding environmental stress to Haliotis iris to support community monitoring and informed management.
Completed students
- Josh Percy, MSc: Assessing predator-prey interactions among three key invertebrate species in southern New Zealand
- Louise Bennett-Jones, PhD: Pāua (Haliotis iris) in the East Otago Taiāpure: Assessment, restoration, and management
- Finn Ryder, PhD: Drivers of population dynamics and fishery status of pāua (Haliotis iris)
Publications
Kough, A., Matsuda, S., Appeldoorn, R., Boman, E., Galassini, K., Delgado, G., … Gnanalingam, G., … Stoner, A. (2025). Queen conch aquaculture remains a conservation symbol and is not yet a fisheries solution. Oryx. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1017/S0030605324001443 Journal - Research Other
Ryder, F. J., Sainsbury, K. J., Hepburn, C. D., Pritchard, D. W., & Gnanalingam, G. (2024). Re-assessment of a blackfoot abalone (Haliotis iris) population in Peraki Bay, New Zealand, after 45 years. New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, 2316230. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1080/00288330.2024.2316230 Journal - Research Article
Ryder, F. J., Gnanalingam, G., Pritchard, D. W., Rayment, W. J., Scott, N. J., & Hepburn, C. D. (2023). Drivers of fishery status for the cultural keystone pāua (Haliotis iris) in Customary fishery Protection Areas in Aotearoa New Zealand. Fisheries Research, 261, 106613. doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2023.106613 Journal - Research Article
Techera, E., Valckenaere, J., Platjouw, F. M., Gnanalingam, G., Hepburn, C. D., Nelson, W., Flack, B., & Sander, G. (2023). Kelp forests in law and policy. In K. Filbee-Dexter, S. Lutz, G. Grimsditch, L. Jonsson, G. Sander & H. Gundersen (Eds.), Into the blue: Securing a sustainable future for kelp forests. (pp. 88-100). Nairobi, Kenya: United Nations Environment Programme. Retrieved from https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/42255 Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report
Bennett-Jones, L., Gnanalingam, G., Flack, B., Scott, N. J., Chambers, P., & Hepburn, C. (2022). Constraints to effective comanagement of New Zealand's customary fisheries: Experiences of the East Otago Taiāpure. Ecology & Society, 27(4), 38. doi: 10.5751/ES-13576-270438 Journal - Research Other