Deep learning: Western student explores ocean depths aboard Irish research vessel
Western PhD candidate Alessandra Walsh spent 13 days at sea in July on Ireland’s research vessel Tom Crean, studying deep-ocean predators and prey for the MOSAIC project.
Alessandra Walsh, a PhD candidate in biology at Western, spent 13 days in July 2026 as a researcher aboard the Tom Crean, Ireland’s national research vessel. The voyage went to the Rockall Trough, a deep basin northwest of Ireland and Scotland, as part of the MOSAIC project, which links 11 partner institutions including Western.
Walsh is supervised by Western biology professors Paul Mensink and Yolanda Morbey. She studies how climate change affects open-ocean predators such as porbeagle and basking sharks, and their prey. The team made 25 stops, taking water samples for environmental DNA and RNA, skimming plankton and hauling in fish and squid from as deep as 1,400 metres.
She also tested whether satellite-tag light meters can detect bioluminescence from deep-water prey, borrowing a specialized sensor from researchers in France and mounting it on a trawl net.
She is awaiting the sensor results. She has also drafted a map for a proposed new survey covering corridors used by basking sharks, porbeagle sharks and leatherback turtles. She will stay with MOSAIC for the next four years.
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