Cathy is head of NatureScot’s Sustainable Coasts & Seas team, leading a group that provide advice on marine energy, fisheries, aquaculture, planning, coastal ecology and climate change.

After obtaining a BSc in Geography from Aberdeen University and MSc in Natural Resource Management from University of Edinburgh, she joined SNH as an Area Officer and has worked for the body in different roles for the last 28 years. For much of this time, Cathy has focused on coastal and marine work, including involvement in working groups that provided input to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive and Marine (Scotland) Act, and in the detailed discussions which informed the creation of Scotland’s marine planning system.

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