Megan Davis

For more than 40 years Dr. Megan Davis, Research Professor and lead for FAU’s Harbor Branch Queen Conch Lab, has been studying the queen conch life cycle and innovating ways to save the species. She has become the world’s foremost expert on queen conch aquaculture, or farming, and has designed, implemented, and operated community-based queen conch hatcheries throughout the Caribbean. Her philosophy is to work in the communities with the fisherfolk and citizens to empower them to grow their own conch for restoration and conservation. Her work enhances the blue economy by providing jobs for local staff and diversified incomes for fisherfolk. In addition, she proposes that restoration of this keystone herbivore into seagrass habitats will assist with carbon sequestration, aiding in important international climate change mitigation efforts. Dr. Davis and her team are currently involved in projects in Florida, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Jamaica and several other Caribbean nations. More than ever, communities are seeking her knowledge as a way to bring a solution to the escalating species decline.