Fish Thinkers

Fish Thinkers is a collaborative effort by a group of Australian (for now) based aquatic researchers who among other things have an interest in fishing, surfing and the marine and freshwater environment in general. The blog will not only cover current research, but also short articles, reviews and pieces about anything vaguely related to the aquatic environment. We also aim to have guest posts by others such as fellow researchers who are covering topics we find particularly interesting.

The opinions of each blogger are their own and not always held by the whole group. In fact, we tend to disagree on a lot of things. Hopefully this makes for an interesting range of opinions.

We look forward to and welcome comments, posts, suggestions and informed debate. However, personal attacks or insulting/vulgar posts will not be tolerated. If you would like to provide a post within the site’s theme, please contact us.

Authors

Lachlan Fetterplace (University of Wollongong)

I am a PhD student at the University of Wollongong and the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

My PhD aims to examine the ecology of soft sediment fish assemblages in temperate waters of South Eastern Australia. I use Baited Remote Underwater Video (BRUVs) to identify and compare fish communities found on temperate soft sediments, including in NSW marine park sanctuary zones (no-take zones), habitat protection zones (recreational fishing allowed) and areas outside of the marine park (that are targeted by both recreational fishers and commercial fishing vessels). In addition, I am using acoustic tracking to investigate issues surrounding the movement patterns of key soft sediment fishes.

I have a deep(pun alert) interest in sustainable fishing and marine ecology. I am a member of a number of professional associations including , AMSA, SCB, EcolAuS, FSBI and I am on the Australian Society for Fish Biology executive as a student rep. This year I am also part of the organising committee for the ASFB 2017 annual conference.  I am a recreational fisher and a co-founder of ‘The 17^th best fishing club in Australia’. I also have a long held interest in Native Australian Fish and am a member of ANGFA, among my many ‘non-aquatic’ interests are lion and African wild dog ecology and conservation.

Matt Rees (University of Wollongong)

I am a marine ecologist currently completing my PhD in the School of Biological Sciences at the
University of Wollongong. My research interests include 1) understanding the relationship between seascape patterning (i.e. the mosaics in coastal environments created by habitat patches) and the distribution of pelagic and demersal fishes, 2) exploring how seascape-species relationships can be incorporated into Marine Protected Area design to improve their conservation outcomes, 3) investigating the effect of Marine Protected Areas on biodiversity and 4) developing mid-water remote video sampling techniques to survey and explore the basic ecology of near-shore pelagic fish.

I am also a keen recreational fisher, whether in estuaries, salt or freshwater, where I usually spin or use fly.

Regular Contributors

Evelyn Fetterplace (University of Wollongong)

I am an honours student in Science and Technology studies at the University of Wollongong. My honours project is an analysis of scientific communication around sharks on the East coast of Australia. It will look at the effectiveness of science communication in influencing cultural discourse about sharks, and how this is reflected in the types of technologies that are developed to protect humans from sharks. I will also be researching how we determine the effectiveness of such technologies, from both conservation and public safety perspectives.

I am interested in finding effective ways to communicate science and am hoping to go into Science Journalism, after further studies and research in Ecology.

Disclaimer – The views expressed on this website are the authors own and do not necessarily represent those of the organisations they are affiliated with