
Martha Davis

Allan Stoner

Tarran Simms
Martha Davis, M. Ag., M.S. – Director
Martha has been involved in environmental work since the mid-1970s when she worked for a consulting engineering company on mine and hazardous waste reclamation problems. As an avid sailor, she has explored much of the Caribbean. It was her experience sailing from 1983 to the present that alerted her to the deterioration of marine stocks, particularly in The Bahamas.
Compelled to shift her focus from land to marine resources, Martha completed a M.S. in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institute of Oceanography. She conducted her research in the Exuma Cays of The Bahamas on the issue of overfishing. Martha incorporated Community Conch in 2009. In addition to field work and logistics, she is focused on marine policy. She lives in Denver, CO.
Allan W. Stoner, Ph.D. – Senior Scientist
Allan’s marine career began at Florida State University with an M.S. in Oceanography and Ph.D. in Biology. Following that, in 1980, he moved to Woods Hole, Massachusetts to teach oceanography in the Semester at Sea program, and four years later joined the faculty at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayagüez. Since that time Allan’s research teams have focused on fishery resources including shrimp, crabs, lobsters, conch, and a host of marine fish in the Caribbean, Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. Allan moved to the National Marine Fisheries Service in 1996 to direct research on fisheries ecology, animal behavior, and fishing gear performance for a wide range of economically important species. He left federal service in 2013 to increase participation in the conservation of queen conch.
Allan’s interest in queen conch began in 1980 with a research trip to Los Roques, Venezuela, where conch were being cultured. His own research with conch began in 1987, and was centered at Lee Stocking Island, in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas, where he lead a multidisciplinary
group focused on conch ecology. Over the last 25 years, Allan, his research partners, and graduate students have published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers on queen conch spanning the topics of reproductive biology, larval behavior and transport, growth and survival, habitat requirements, stock enhancement with hatchery-reared juveniles, and the function of marine protected areas.
Tarran Simms, M. S. – Field Representative
Tarran is from the Bahamas and started his education with a degree in Small Island Sustainability from the College of the Bahamas. He then received a M.S in Hospitality and Tourism Management from Cornell University. He worked at Atlantis, Dept of Tourism in Bolivia and Small Hope Bay Lodge before taking a job with the Ministry of Tourism. He participated in two conch surveys and now is the Field Representative for Community Conch. He interfaces with conch fishermen and other NGOs in the Bahamas.
Catherine Booker, M.S. – Emeritus 2018, Field Representative
Catherine has a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Georgia and a M.S. in Environmental Studies from the College of Charleston. Her research experience has been primarily in The Bahamas, though she has pursued travel and work around the world. She worked as Community Conch Field Representative and Outreach Coordinator from inception until 2018. She now works with a Bahamian non-profit, the Exuma Foundation, on the island of Great Exuma in The Bahamas.