Forum Speaker Spotlight #3
by Jillian Browning • May 14, 2017 • Announcements, Events, Research
In the lead up to our Annual Marine Science Forum on the 3rd and 4th of June, we will feature a post about each of the scientists presenting this year.
This week we would like to introduce you to:
Dr Iain Suthers
Professor at University of New South Wales and Sydney Institute of Marine Science
Forum presentation: The whole enchilada: from ocean production to predation in the East Australian Current
What is beyond and below the horizon? And what can you expect coming down from the north?
Australia’s brand new Research Vessel Investigator surveyed the plankton and sea floor off Narooma last September, then off Sydney and Brisbane. We discovered a pea-soup of a springtime diatom bloom off southern NSW and out to 150 km offshore; but a wealth of zooplankton and larval fish in some eddies of the East Australian Current.
Bio
Iain Suthers explores the basis and sustainability of estuarine and coastal ecosystems. His discoveries in the past 5 years concern the harvest and ecosystem basis of offshore artificial reefs; and ecological effects of the East Australian Current (EAC). He completed his PhD in Canada and post-doctoral work in Norway as well as back home in Australia before taking up a lectureship at UNSW in 1991. His research on the separation of the EAC from the coast off Port Stephens reveals a key region influencing NSW’s climate and fisheries. Since 2007 he has led 5 research voyages on Australia’s Marine National Facility (RV Southern Surveyor), and 4 on the brand-new 94 m RV Investigator, to the EAC and Tasman Front. Iain was leader of the NSW node of Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System www.imos.org.au (from 2007-2011), he has been one of the major drivers in the remarkable development of the Sydney Institute of Marine Science (www.sims.org.au).
