Our Board

Professor David Booth

Director and Company Chair

David is a Professor of Marine Ecology in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Team Leader of its Fish Ecology Lab. He leads the university’s research on Australia’s endemic weedy seadragon. David has also been following Nemo to study how tropical fish species are travelling down the East Australian Current past Sydney. He is a strong advocate of sustainable fisheries and marine protected areas and is frequently sought by media for comment. David also collaborates closely with other universities, government agencies and citizen scientists. He has published widely on his marine research, which has a focus on reef ecology and human impacts in places like the Sydney Harbour, Australia’s east coast, the Great Barrier Reef, the Caribbean, Hawaii and the Virgin Islands.

Chris Smyth

Director and Company Secretary

Chris is a freelance consultant specialising in marine and coastal matters. In that role he works closely with local, state and national conservation organisations on issues that have included coastal management, regional marine planning, land and marine protected areas, and marine and coastal issues in the Northern Territory. In recent years Chris has also written chapters and full reports for state of the environment reporting in Victoria. He is a former geography teacher, editor of Habitat and Park Watch magazines, environmental educator and an advocate for marine and coastal protection. Chris co-founded the Sustainable Australian Seafood Assessment Program, the precursor to Sustainable Australian Seafood Assessment Limited, with Trevor Ward.

Shannon Hurley

Director

Shannon is a passionate advocate for the marine world with a long-standing interest in sustainable fisheries. She is also the founder of The Salty Tribe, a company that provides safe and supportive ocean experiences for women to grow their connection, confidence and community through the ocean. Shannon has worked for Parks Victoria and the Australian Marine Conservation Society and is currently the Victorian National Parks Association’s marine and coastal advocate.

Greg Jenkins

Specialist Peer Reviewer

Greg began working in aquaculture projects soon after leaving university. He spent 13 years building extensive teaching and management experience in aquaculture projects in Atherton, Carnarvon and Kununurra. After arriving in Perth in the 1990s, and over more than 30 years, he became the leader of aquaculture research and development in Western Australia. For most of that time he was the Director of the Australian Centre for Applied Aquaculture Research. There he led hatchery and restocking projects for species such as kingfish, mulloway, prawns, snapper and black bream. His restocking of black bream in the Blackwood River is now viewed as the world’s best restocking process. For his achievements in aquaculture, Greg was inducted into the National Seafood Industry Hall of Fame in 2020.

Dr Jeremy Prince

Specialist Peer Reviewer

Jeremy runs Biospherics Pty Ltd, an independent consultancy company that works closely with government, industry and conservation groups on fisheries assessment and management. His research interests were initially focused on abalone but have extended to shark, scalefish, gillnet, hook and trap fisheries. Jeremy’s dominant interest is the assessment of small-scale fisheries. He has pioneered the use of fish length to estimate the spawning potential of data-poor fish stocks in these small-scale fisheries, which represent the majority of the world’s fisheries. To assist these fisheries, he has developed and since applied the Barefoot Ecologist’s Toolbox.

Professor Emeritus Neil Loneragan

Specialist Peer Reviewer

Neil is one of Western Australia’s leading fish and marine experts who is widely published and has conducted research into fish and invertebrate ecology, small-scale and data-poor fisheries, food webs, stock enhancement and sea ranching. He is currently Professor Emeritus of Marine Ecology and Conservation at Murdoch University. However, his background includes 14 years as a principal research scientist and research group leader at CSIRO, and extensive research across Australia and South-East Asia, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia. He is an Immediate Past President of the Asian Fisheries Society and Editor-in-Chief of the journal, Asian Fisheries Science. His research, particularly in Asia, has given him an appreciation of the significance of the social and economic dimensions of small-scale fisheries for sustainable fisheries production and management.

Dr Trevor Ward

Consultant

Trevor is a renowned and widely published expert in marine ecology, regional marine planning, seafood sustainability, marine performance assessment systems, fisheries management, ecosystem-based management, and the design of marine protected areas. He provides strategic policy and technical advice to government agencies, fisheries managers, conservation groups and local communities worldwide on the conservation and sustainable management of marine ecosystems and fisheries. Trevor has co-edited two books on ecolabelling in fisheries and has published extensively on the topic of sustainable seafood assessments. He was jointly awarded the CSIRO Australia Chairman’s Medal for excellence in marine science. Trevor is also the co-founder of the Sustainable Australian Seafood Assessment Program.