Dr Natanah Gusha
Research Interests:
Quantitative population modeling, spatio-temporal patterns and functional biogeography, fisheries governance, sustainable management of inland and marine resources.
Position: PDP Postdoctoral Research Fellow, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
Dr Gusha joined the NRF-SAIAB as a post-doctoral research fellow under the NRF-Professional Development Programme (PDP) in 2024. Since then, she has specialised in quantitative stock assessment for data-limited fisheries, a niche not attractive to many. Dr Gusha applies and adapts existing methods to both marine and freshwater systems where traditional assessment approaches are not feasible.
This work uses unconventional data sources particularly from competitive marine angling franchises to estimate critical population parameters including gear selectivity curves, size-at-entry distributions, and fishing mortality rates. For inland systems, she is working with multiple post-graduate students and other researchers from NRF-SAIAB and other universities to develop models that link fish growth to environmental parameters, enabling productivity predictions across unstudied impoundments. This work addresses a pervasive governance gap in many fisheries: the disconnect between statutory regulations and actual harvesting patterns, which often undermines the effectiveness of resource management frameworks.
Overall, the research aims to inform evidence-based management decisions while demonstrating cost-effective monitoring approaches that could be replicated across other data-limited fisheries, especially within Africa’s expanding inland fisheries and Blue Economy sector.
Education
Degree | Institution and location | Graduated |
BSc. (Hon) Forest Resources and Wildlife Management | National University of Science & Technology, Bulawayo | 2015 |
MSc. Marine Biology | Rhodes University, Makhanda | 2017 |
PhD. Marine Biology | Rhodes University, Makhanda | 2022 |