Gretchen McPhail

Gretchen was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her love for the ocean brought her to the East Coast of Canada, where she completed an undergraduate degree in marine biology and ocean sciences from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Through her honours project, Gretchen had the opportunity to work with at-risk seabirds, sparking her passion for seabird research and conservation.

Gretchen is now a master's student in environmental science at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, supervised by Dr. Nelson O'Driscoll. Her research investigates the accumulation of mercury in aquatic invertebrates from estuarine ecosystems in the Bay of Fundy. Gretchen is happy to once again partake in seabird conservation through her on-board research project. She will be recording seabird observations to better understand species' distribution and at-sea behaviours.

In her spare time, Gretchen loves to go snorkelling, photograph wildlife, and illustrate her research.