IN MEMORIAM: DR SHELLY-ANN COX
June 25, 2026
Dr Shelly-Ann Cox
The staff and students of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) of The University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus, mourn the loss of the Chief Fisheries Officer, Dr Shelly-Ann Cox.
Most Barbadians, as well as many of her friends and colleagues around the world, knew Shelly-Ann as a Chief Fisheries Officer who loved her job with passion and deeply valued her role in strengthening the structures and mechanisms for resilient fisheries development and sustainable management of fisheries resources and related livelihoods.
To CERMES, however, Shelly-Ann was an excellent MPhil and PhD student who had unmistakable focus on the value of knowledge and scholarship for development. By dint of hard work and scholarly promise, Shelly-Ann was appointed a postdoctoral researcher at CERMES to give life to her deep-seated interest in tightly linking knowledge and scholarship to development practice through applied research and projects. Shelly-Ann distinguished herself in this role, imbuing her love for the sea, fisheries and fisherfolk with youthful energy. She developed strong relationships and communities among fisherfolk. Through these broader engagements, she understood the technological and scholarly constraints to sustainable fisheries management and never failed to seize an opportunity to discuss technological solutions to some of the problems. Prior to becoming the Chief Fisheries Officer, Shelly-Ann left her mark at CERMES as a promising young scholar with heart and hands trained on transforming fisheries development and management with science and technology anywhere in the world.
It was therefore not surprising that she answered the call to become the Chief Fisheries Officer. In her short tenure as Chief Fisheries Officer, her vision, initiatives, and drive have been clear to all. She brought energy, purpose, and compassion to all that she did. Her love for the sea, fisheries, and fisherfolk was evident in the strong relationships she cultivated throughout the sector. These close connections gave her a profound understanding of the challenges facing fisheries development and management and strengthened her determination to champion innovative, science-based, and technological solutions to address them. Her calm demeanour, cheerful disposition and professional depth endeared her to both her peers and superiors. She will dearly be missed. I will personally miss her genuinely charming smile which was her first response to a difficult question. The Fisheries Division has lost an iconic officer. CERMES has lost a distinguished alumna and a scholar-practitioner.
We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. May her beautiful soul rest in peace.
Professor David Yawson
Director, CERMES
Additional Tributes from Former CERMES Colleagues who worked with Dr. Cox over the years:
CERMES (Initial reaction)
For the past 24 hours UWI-CERMES has been in disbelief over the sudden passing of one of our leading CERMES alumni, Dr. Shelly-Ann Cox. Long before she was Dr. Cox, she was Shelly-Ann or Shelly to us. She came to us as a quiet and unassuming young lady to undertake an MPhil that was later upgraded to a PhD. Upon her successful completion of her PhD journey, she worked with many of us on externally funded projects until assuming the post of Chief Fisheries Officer in Barbados in 2023. In this post she quickly set to work on trying to transform the industry into a technologically focused sector. She believed in the role that youth could play in advancing a viable and sustainable industry and surrounded herself with a young and enthusiastic team. Should she have been granted more time, there is no telling what her achievements may have been, and unfortunately, we will never know. We would like to extend sincere condolences to her family, friends and colleagues. Her passing is a great loss to many and the Barbados fishing industry. Rest in eternal peace, Shelly.
Professor Emerita Hazel Oxenford:
Dr Shelly-Ann Cox is one of our most outstanding alumni, and treasured member of ‘the CERMES family’. She was a truly remarkable woman and meant so much to so many people across the Barbados fishing community and far, far beyond. I am so lucky to be among those who can claim that Shelly was a very special friend, but I am also now heartbroken, numb and in disbelief that she has been taken from us at such a young age. We bonded years ago through a shared passion for the sea, and our friendship continued to grow as we worked together, laughed together, sometimes struggled but always achieved together on so many projects. Over many ‘coffee and cheesecake’ sessions, sea baths and rum punches we shared our hopes and dreams, and one of Shelly’s was to one day be the Chief Fisheries Officer in Barbados.
She was extraordinarily bright, bringing scholarship, kindness, determination, pride and hope to every challenge she faced. I have never known anyone to possess the qualities she had to befriend, to help, to empathise, to lead, and to multi-task without ever dropping the ball. When she took up her dream position in January 2023 at the helm of the Fisheries Division, it was these qualities and her commitment to a daring vision for a modernised, profitable, sustainable, fishing industry that inspired all who met her. In just three short years, as the Chief Fisheries Officer in Barbados she has transformed the Division with her transparent and inclusive management style. Not only does it look so different with its fresh white paint and bright turquoise and blue (Shelly’s favourite colours) accents and new logo, but inside it is now bristling with bright young staff, happily engaged in a range of important tasks and collaborative projects with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose and pride.
Having worked on many projects before joining the Division, she has brought that knowledge to bear. With experience and training in ecology, fisheries governance, climate change, gender equity, disaster risk management, as well as circular and blue economies she understod the bigger picture – she ‘got it’, and developed a strong and supportive network of colleagues across the region.
Thanks to Shelly, the Division now has a vibrant social media presence, a brand-new Fisheries Policy, a new Fisheries Act and a daring vision. Over and above the day-to-day administrative duties, Shelly reinvigorated staff and fisherfolk cohesiveness and pride through the support and attention given to special events honouring fishing heritage such as the Oistins Fish Festival over Easter and Barbados Fisherfolk Festival at the many landing sites around the island. She highlighted the science and shared the results across marine stakeholders by hosting an annual Research Frontiers Symposium. With the unyielding support of fishers, she introduced digital monitoring technology on fishing vessels, introduced new hooks to reduce bycatch and comply with international standards. She believed in evidence-based management and was collaborating with international partners to gather critical information, including supporting a dolphin fish-tagging programme, a conch genetics study and so much more. She was determined to make the industry attractive to the youth and paid special attention to honouring the contribution of women fisherfolk.
She has earned the utmost respect and love from all involved in the fishing industry, a remarkable feat for someone so young in this leadership position. This allowed her to steer the fishing industry with a firm but fair hand through the devastation wrought by Hurricane Beryl, bringing fast relief and a remarkable rebuilding effort within less than a year. Her work ethic, her fairness and firmness, humility, passion and unbridled enthusiasm, and her attention to the empowerment of women and youth has been an inspiration across the region. The out-pouring of grief and love and the tributes from so many people and organisations across the region and far beyond over the last few days is testament to the reach and impact of a remarkable and much-loved young woman. May she rest in peace, knowing that her legacy lives on.
Dr. Patrick McConney (Former Director of CERMES)
“CERMES had the pleasure of knowing Dr Shelly-Ann Cox first as an excellent PhD student, then as an outstanding postdoctoral researcher, and finally as a highly professional fisheries manager. Common threads ran through her progression. Shelly always invested heavily in enabling collaboration and networking with and within fisherfolk communities. She also encouraged and assisted young people to develop their interests in fisheries science and technology. Shelly’s strong and future-oriented commitment to people-centred Caribbean fisheries will be missed by many.
