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 204 Marine Ecology and Ecosystems
Postgraduate students
Current students
- Louis Alexander, MSc: Diet selectivity and feeding ecology of Greenbone (Odax pullus)
- Heather Cook, PhD: Marine habitat classification and modeling in Ngāi Tahu customary protection areas
- Mia Langley, MSc: Anthropogenic effects on Kōura (Southern rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii) reproduction
- Will McCoy, MSc: Undaria heat testing: enhancing pest control
- 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
Completed students
- Louise Bennett-Jones, PhD: Pāua (Haliotis iris) in the East Otago Taiāpure: Assessment, restoration, and management
- Katie Fenton, PhD: Pāua in numbers: understanding environmental stress to Haliotis iris to support community monitoring and informed management
- Josh Percy, MSc: Assessing predator-prey interactions among three key invertebrate species in southern New Zealand
- Finn Ryder, PhD: Drivers of population dynamics and fishery status of pāua (Haliotis iris)
Publications
Bennett-Jones, L., Hepburn, C. D., Flack, B., Scott, N. J., & Gnanalingam, G. (ā). Integration of Indigenous practices into fisheries legislation: Obstacles and opportunities for the maramataka (Māori lunar calendar). Marine Policy, 185, 106994. doi: 10.1016/j.marpol.2025.106994 Journal - Research Article
Coyle, L., & Gnanalingam, G. (2026). Changes in fecundity and size at maturity of rock lobster Jasus edwardsii in southern New Zealand: A cause for concern in the face of environmental change. Fisheries Research, 293, 107634. doi: 10.1016/j.fishres.2025.107634 Journal - Research Article
Gnanalingam, G., Kelly, E. R. M., Coyle, L. J., Smith, R. O., & Allan, B. J. M. (2025). Spiny rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii) responses to marine heatwave conditions in southern New Zealand. Marine Environmental Research, 211, 107410. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2025.107410 Journal - Research Article
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, 58(6), 700-709. doi: 10.1017/S0030605324001443 Journal - Research Other
Ryder, F. J., Sainsbury, K. J., Hepburn, C. D., Pritchard, D. W., & Gnanalingam, G. (2025). Re-assessment of a blackfoot abalone (Haliotis iris) population in Peraki Bay, New Zealand, after 45 years. New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, 59(1), 164-182. doi: 10.1080/00288330.2024.2316230 Journal - Research Article