John Graves will serve as a 2023 Grau Fellow with the Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR) Oʻahu as a member of the Holomua Initiative team. His fellowship will center around community engagement and collecting data on socio-cultural indicators to better understand the reciprocal relationship between our communities and the marine resources they access here in Hawai‘i. Socio-cultural indicators were developed in a series of community-based workshops and then refined, with the goal of assessing the priorities of local stakeholders. This will be used in developing plans for the effective co-management of nearshore resources by DAR collaborating with community members. John is excited to build bridges with local marine resource users and to continue to grow his knowledge and experience in protecting the ocean that he loves.

After receiving a B.A. in Anthropology from UT Austin in 2011, John began his professional career as a high school history teacher and then as a lab technician, before returning to school to pursue science. He completed a B.S. in Biology from UT Austin in the spring of 2020, just before moving to Hawai‘i to begin a masters in Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Science at UH Hilo. He immediately fell in love with the vibrant reefs of Hawai‘i island, and his graduate work focused on coral reef ecology and habitat monitoring, working as a professional intern with DAR Kona. After graduating in 2022, John worked as a scientific diver with NOAA, surveying remote Pacific reefs in American Samoa and surrounding atolls before being selected as a Grau Fellow. He looks forward to developing an expertise in marine policy and cultivating connections with the amazing people and waters of Hawai‘i as a Grau Fellow.