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A young man born and raised in the French Alps might be the last person you would expect to find studying Australian marine life 60 kilometres offshore in the deep waters west of Rottnest.

Phil Bouchet is not sure how he developed his love of marine science, but it has taken him around the world and won him an award from the Australian Academy of Science to support his research.

The Margaret Middleton Fund for Endangered Australian Native Vertebrate Animals has contributed $15,000 towards the costs of Phil's PhD research, which he is carrying out at the Oceans Institute under the supervision of Professor Jessica Meeuwig .

"I was studying at the land-locked University of Grenoble when I realised that my real research interests lay in marine biology, so I transferred my undergraduate course to Brittany, on the west coast of France," Phil said.

"I did a Masters in Marine Mammal Science at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, then when I heard about Professor Meeuwig and her work and the reputation of UWA, I knew I wanted to come here. I fell in love with this campus as soon as I arrived."

He is studying marine predators of the Perth Canyon, a part of the Indian Ocean which is about 30 kilometres west of Rottnest Island and 1.5 kilometres deep.

"Some of the predators found in this part of the world are increasingly under threat but their existence is vital for healthy marine ecosystems," he said.

He is using innovative video technology to track and study mobile predators including some species of whales, dolphins, sharks and large fish.

"My study will assist in the long-term management of the Perth Canyon marine reserve and will also give us a monitoring tool to guarantee that appropriate and adequate protection is in place for threatened species," he said.

"The award is very important to me. It acknowledges the growing attention on Australia's oceans and the conservation of their wildlife and resources."

When the French Ambassador, Monsieur Stéphane Romatet, visited UWA recently, Phil was able to explain to him his investigations of the spatial dynamics and movements of marine vertebrate predators.