Social Sciences Research Co-ordination Program - Steering Committee

The Steering Committee is comprised of industry expertise across wild catch, aquaculture, post harvest, recreational and indigenous fishing sectors, and provides program guidance in terms of issue identification, assessment of project synergies with other social science as well as ecological and economic research activities, and liaison across their fields of expertise in the industry to disseminate objectives and activities of the program, knowledge gained from it, and bring information from the industry to the program in regard to emerging issues. Members of the Steering Committee include:

Melanie Fisher - Chair

Melanie Fisher is the General Manger, Food Standards (Canberra) Branch in Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ). She has extensive experience at senior levels in the Australian Government covering a range of subjects including food regulation, fisheries policy, environmental and resource management, primary industries and structural adjustment, and scientific analyses to support agricultural, fisheries and forestry policy development.

Prior to joining FSANZ she was the Deputy Executive Director of the Australian Government’s Bureau of Rural Science where her responsibilities included developing social science methods and analyses relevant to primary production sectors and their supporting communities; and overseeing drought assessments, fisheries assessments and forests resource analyses and assessments.

Melanie has qualifications in psychology and public policy and has published in the areas of public policy approaches to drought, risk perception and communication and public policy theory.

Email: Melanie.Fisher@foodstandards.gov.au

Gavin Begg

Gavin Begg is the Program Leader of Fisheries and Marine Sciences at the Bureau of Rural Sciences, Department of Agriculture Fisheries & Forestry, Australia. He is responsible for leading a team of scientists who provide scientific advice and information on domestic and international fisheries and marine environment issues that underpin Government policy. Prior to BRS, Gavin was at the Australian Fisheries Management Authority where he led the co-management program, as well as the research and data collection programs responsible for monitoring Commonwealth fisheries. He has also worked on population and fishery dynamics of exploited tropical and temperate marine fish stocks, stock identification, management strategy evaluation, and resource allocation in Australia, Iceland and the US.

Email: gavin.begg@brs.gov.au

Glenn Hurry

Glenn Hurry is the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), an organisation responsible for the management of Australia’s Commonwealth fisheries which are those principally outside the 3 mile zone. AFMA also has responsibility for illegal fishing activity in Australia’s southern and northern waters with the Departments of Customs, Defence and Immigration.

Prior to coming to AFMA some 18 months ago Glenn was the Executive Manager of the Fisheries and Forestry division of DAFF and for the last 10 years had led for Australia on regional and international fisheries issues. His main focus was as Australia’s negotiator in the international tuna commissions and on the promotion of action to control IUU fishing. Glenn was the Chair of the APEC Fisheries Working Group from 1999 to 2002, Chair of the FAO Committee on Fisheries in 2005 and Chair of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission from 2003 to 2008. Glenn has a Masters Degree in Aquatic Science (Aquaculture).

Prior to joining DAFF in 1996 Glenn worked in social welfare areas in the Australian public service with a focus on indigenous welfare, working and researching extensively in remote areas of northern Australia.

Email: Glenn.Hurry@afma.gov.au

Brett McCallum

Brett joined the Pearl Producers Australia (the peak representative body for the pearling industry) in January 2001, as their Executive Officer. From 1987, prior to joining the PPA, Brett was the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Australian Fishing Industry Council (WAFIC), and has also held the position of Chairman of the Western Tuna and Billfish Fishery Management Advisory Committee and is a permanent advisor on several of the major WA fisheries Management Advisory Committees. Brett holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Western Australia, and has been one of the WA delegates to the Australian Seafood Industry Council, while also holding a number of industry positions on state and federal government working groups and committees ranging from Biodiversity through to Quota Allocations.

In his early years with Michael Kailis, Brett was introduced to the need for passion for the fishing industry and its participants, noting that without it... one would never succeed. Brett enjoys the people side’ of the industry and the minimisation of formal hierarchies that allows decisions to be taken by the people at the coalface. Empowering those who have the investment to make informed decisions is one of the greatest outcomes he believes he can contribute to achieving.

Email: Brett.McCallum@pearlproducersaustralia.com

Louise Nock

Louise joined SFM in 2001 with a background in marketing and event management and was appointed Marketing & Communications Manager in 2004. Louise managed the last two Seafood Excellence Awards and Seafood Directions, Australia's peak seafood industry conference in 2005. Louise holds a Bachelor of Arts (Majoring in Land and Resource Management) and is a NSW Councillor of the Australian Marketing Institute, member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Management.

Email: louisen@sydneyfishmarket.com.au

Emily Ogier

Emily Ogier is the Project Officer with the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council and is based in Hobart. Her background is in coastal and marine natural resource management, and has included spending 5 years researching marine resource governance at the Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia for her PhD. Currently she is working on projects addressing capacity for co-management and local level leadership within the seafood industry, as well as climate change strategy development, and a suite of other issues including career pathways and recruitment of skilled workers.

Email: projectofficer@tsic.org.au

Stan Lui

Stan Lui is a Torres Strait Islander from Erub (Darnley Island) and is currently a Fishery Manager with the Australian Fisheries Management Authority. Prior to joining AFMA Stan has occupied various roles in direct relation to indigenous fisheries such as a Fisheries Policy Officer and Manager of the Indigenous Aquaculture Unit with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. He was also an Indigenous Fisheries and Aquaculture Development Officer with the Queensland DPI&F with an area that incorporated Torres Strait to Bowen and across to the Gulf of Carpentaria. He began his career in the public service as a Patrol Officer with Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol gaining a good understanding of State and Commonwealth Legislation having processed and destroying some of the first illegal foreign fishing boats apprehended in Northern Australian waters. 

Stan has a Bachelor of Science (Double Majoring in Marine Biology and Aquaculture) and still practices his cultural beliefs and protocols by maintaining strong links to his sea country. When he first finished school in North Queensland he returned to Torres Strait and became a commercial fisherman holding endorsements in the Tropical Rock Lobster, Finfish, Spanish Mackerel and Pearl Shell fisheries.

E-mail: stan.lui@afma.gov.au

Dr Nadine Marshall

Nadine is a social scientist with CSIRO, Sustainable Ecosystems and Climate Adaptation Flagship working with several primary industries across Australia facing change. Her main research topics include issues of social change, resilience and adaptation. Most of her work focuses on issues pertaining to climate adaptation and vulnerability with particular emphasis on extreme situations requiring transformative change. She has conducted research within the commercial fishing industry in Queensland for over 8 years and has recently commenced research with South Eastern fisheries in Australia. Nadine leads the Townsville team of CSIRO’s Social and Economic Sciences and has held several advisory positions for local NRM groups, including the Queensland Fisheries Service.

Email: Nadine.Marshall@csiro.au