Rate My Professor Gaya Gnanalingam

Dr. Gaya Gnanalingam is a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Marine Science within the Division of Sciences at the University of Otago. She obtained her BSc in Zoology and LLB from the University of Otago, an MSc in Ecology from the University of Otago, and a PhD in Ecological Sciences from Old Dominion University, USA, supported by a Fulbright New Zealand Grantee award in 2013. Following her doctoral studies, she returned to New Zealand in late 2017 to take up her current position at the University of Otago, where she conducts research, teaches undergraduate courses, and supervises postgraduate students.

Her research interests center on fisheries restoration and management for long-term sustainability, incorporating stock enhancement, marine ecology, marine policy, fisheries regulation, indigenous knowledge, and reproductive biology. She utilizes a multidisciplinary approach, including empirical field observations, laboratory experiments, computer modeling, policy analysis, and legislative reviews. Gnanalingam is a member of the Coastal People: Southern Skies research collaboration focused on coastal ecosystem restoration and contributes to projects like Restoring kai moana. She coordinates AQFI 251: Principles of Aquaculture and teaches courses such as ECOL 111: Ecology and Conservation of Biodiversity, MARI 112: Global Marine Systems, MARI 202: Marine Invertebrates, and MARI 204: Marine Ecology and Ecosystems. She supervises several PhD and MSc students on topics including rock lobster populations, greenbone feeding ecology, kelp climate resilience, oyster aquaculture, undaria control, and pāua stress responses. Notable publications include "Integration of Indigenous practices into fisheries legislation" (Marine Policy, 2025), "Changes in fecundity and size at maturity of rock lobster Jasus edwardsii" (Fisheries Research, 2026), "Spiny rock lobster responses to marine heatwave conditions" (Marine Environmental Research, 2025), "Queen conch aquaculture remains a conservation symbol" (Oryx, 2025), "Re-assessment of a blackfoot abalone population" (New Zealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, 2025), and earlier works on Caribbean spiny lobster ecology such as "Directly ageing the Caribbean spiny lobster" (2018) and "Conserving spawning stocks through harvest slot limits" (2020). She serves as an Early-Career Editorial Board Member for the New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research. Her work has garnered over 170 citations and influences marine policy and conservation in New Zealand.