Valérie ALLAIN - Fisheries Scientist

Valerie obtained her PhD in Biological Oceanology at the Institut Universitaire Europeen de la Mer of the Université de Bretagne Occidentale in Brest (France) in 1999. She studied the ecology, biology and fishery of the deep-sea fish populations from the cold Eastern North Atlantic. She arrived at SPC in September 2000 to join the Tuna Ecology and Biology team. She is working on the pelagic tuna ecosystem focusing on the food web study. Samples are collected by the observers from the National Observer Programmes of SPC area and Valerie and her collaborators analyze them in the lab in Noumea; analysis involves fish stomach examination and stable isotope analysis.
 

Gwenhael ALLAIN - Fisheries Scientist

Geoffrey BERTRAND - Observer & Port Sampler Coordinator

Fabrice BOUYE - Fisheries IT Specialist

Fabrice originally graduated from the French University of South Pacific, New Caledonia Section (known now as the University of New Caledonia) in 1995. He then left for France were he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Software Engineering/DESS de Génie Logiciel from the University of Bordeaux 1 in 1999 after 3 years of Computer Science studies.

He joined the OFP in January 2000 as a Computer Engineer consultant and is now an IT Specialist for OFP. He mainly does some Java programming for data visualization but does practice C++ programming for data manipulation as well. He also provides programming and computer-related assistance for the scientific staff and the other OFP staff members.

Deirdre BROGAN - Fishery Monitoring Supervisor

After a long struggle to keep away from the fine distractions of recently poured Guinness and all night sing-a-longs, Deirdre was finally awarded her Higher National Diploma in Applied Aquatic Science. With this fine diploma in her hands, she headed further west to the four pub village of Ballyvaughan in Co. Clare, to act as a mother figure to reproducing oysters, clams and abalone shells. Standing knee height in the Atlantic Ocean for hours at a time was in-sufficient to her chemical needs, so she moved another small bit back east, to a three pub village and spent two years annoying the local pelagic and demersal fishermen for a spin out on the saltwater. In return she measured some fish and feed the seagulls a lot...as they say. Replying to an add in the local paper she won the top prize - an all paid luxury Pacific Island Cruise voyage. After six wonderful years lounging around on tuna vessels sunning herself white, and failing to find a husband within the allotted time-frame, she was called back to the main office and tasked with leaving red marks on other vacationing observers length measurements. Arra sure its a grand life...but I'd swap the champagne back for a Guinness any day.

Stéphanie CHUVAN - Data Entry technician

Mary-Pierre DIOHOUE - Data Entry technician

Siosifa FUKOFUKA - Port Sampling and Observer Trainer

Educated in Tonga till 1984. 

Graduated from the University of the South Pacific 1990. 

Ministry of Marine Resources 1989 - 1994. 

SPC Oceanic Fisheries Observer (SPRTRAMP) - 1995 - 2000. 

MMR - 2001. 

SPC (PROC-FISH) - 2002.

John HAMPTON - Oceanic Fisheries Programme Manager

John obtained a BSc (Hons) in marine biology from James Cook University of North Queensland in 1977. He worked initially in the Fisheries Division of the Department of Primary Industries in Canberra and subsequently moved to CSIRO in Sydney and later in Hobart. At CSIRO, he worked on southern bluefin tuna stock assessment and obtained a PhD on this subject from the University of NSW. John came to SPC in 1987 as Senior Fisheries Scientist. Initially his work focused on the analysis of tuna tagging data and the planning and implementation of the EU-funded Regional Tuna Tagging Project. In recent years, John has worked mainly on the development and application of the MULTIFAN-CL stock assessment model. He is married (to Loetitia) with one daughter, 2 step-daughters and one grandaughter.

Hélène IXEKO - Documentalist - Project Assistant

David KIRBY - Senior Fisheries Scientist (Modeller)

Education: BSc (Hons) Ocean Science (Wales); MSc Applied Oceanography (Wales); Postgraduate Certificate in Management (Wales); PhD Modelling the behaviour of tunas in relation to their environment (Leicester).

Active projects: Development of individual-based models (IBMs) for skipjack (SKIP-I) and bigeye (BET-I). SKIP-I and BET-I investigate horizontal and vertical movements respectively, using environmental data simulated by numerical ocean models. These models will be further developed under the PFRP-funded project ‘Mixed-Resolution Models for Investigating Individual to Population Scale Spatial Dynamics’ within the framework of the Oceanic Fisheries and Climate Change Project (OFCCP).

Publications:

Remi KUPISZ - Consultant (IT)

Colin MILLAR - Fisheries IT Specialist

Adam LANGLEY - Principal Fisheries Scientist (Stock Assessment and Modelling)

Adam completed a BSc (Hons) degree in Zoology at the University of Canterbury in 1988. The next 14 years were spent working in a range of roles in New Zealand fisheries. These included government research and management agencies, a commercial fishing company, and as an independent science consultant. This experience included at-sea observing, catch sampling, research surveys, stock assessment, and policy advice over a wide range of inshore, pelagic, and deepwater fisheries.

Adam joined the OFP in 2002, initially focusing on the provision of scientific advice to support the management of the tuna fisheries within the waters of SPC member countries. More recently, Adam’s role has expanded to include the stock assessment of key tuna species. His area of specific interest is the application of the assessment results to the management of the domestic longline fisheries operating in the region, including the integration of oceanographic and economic data from these fisheries.

Adam’s enjoys the lifestyle in Noumea with his wife and two young children. His interests include windsurfing and mountain biking.

Timothy LAWSON - Principal Fisheries Scientist (Statistics)

After Tim graduated in 1980 with a Master of Science degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, he came to SPC as a fisheries biologist with the Skipjack Survey and Assessment Programme. From 1984 to 1986, he was a fisheries statistician with the FAO/UNDP Indo-Pacific Tuna Programme, outposted to the Seychelles. From 1986 to 1987, he worked with ESSA Environmental and Social Systems Analysts Ltd., in Vancouver, on natural resource management projects with Canadian government agencies. He returned to SPC in September 1987 and manages the Statistics and Monitoring Section of the OFP. He also edits the Tuna Fishery Yearbook and the Western and Central Pacific Ocean Tuna Bulletin, and conducts statistical analyses in several areas. As coordinator of the Statistics Working Group of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, he has been involved in developing tuna fishery data collection projects in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Kay LEGRAS - Programme Administrator

Patrick LEHODEY - Principal Fisheries Scientist (Tuna Ecology & Biology)

After a master of science in marine biology and oceanography (1989) at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale (Brest, France), Patrick went in the Pacific for a Post-Master (Université Francaise du Pacifique and IRD, Tahiti) study on the food habits of tuna around the Fish Aggregating Devices, then a PhD (IRD Noumea) study on The seamounts of New Caledonia and their fisheries resources (1994). He joined the Oceanic Fisheries Programme of SPC in 1995 with the SPRTRAMP EU programme. He has been recruited in March 2002 as Principal Fisheries Scientist (ecology/biology) on the new EU project PROCFISH.

Research interests:

• Biology of tuna species
• Studies on the relationships between tuna stocks and fisheries and their physical and biological environment in the Pacific Ocean
• Impacts of the climate variability (El Niño Southern Oscillation: ENSO, Pacific Decadal Oscillation :PDO) and climate change on tuna populations and fisheries
• Modelling (development of a spatial numerical model integrating the knowledge on tuna biology and ecology)

Nathalie LENORMAND - Data Entry Technician

Bruno LEROY -  Biological Analyst

After a BSc in  1986 at the University of Rennes (France), Bruno accomplished his military obligations as a biologist in a small island of the “French Antarctic and sub-Antarctic Territories”; he spent 14 month there studying albatross, penguins and fur-seals ecology.  Back in France he decided to become a fisherman rather than going back to the university. With a friend, he bought a lobster boat and spent 2 years setting and hauling 500 pots per day in the bay of St Malo. The decrease of both sea-food ressources and market price drive him to stop this experience at the end of 1991. 

In 1992 he started to work for IFREMER (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) to coordinate observers at sea in the french albacore drifnet fishery.  Until mid-1996 he worked in many roles at Ifremer; these experiences included at sea-observing, catch sampling, fishery activities surveys, cetacean sighting surveys and fish growth studies.

 Bruno joined the Oceanic Fisheries Programme of SPC in june 1996 with the SPRTRAMP EU programme. He has been recruited in March 2002 as Biological Analyst on the new EU project PROCFISH. His job focused on tuna growth study and tuna tagging. This last role has expanded in the last 2 years with the development of electronic tags that are becoming a very useful tool to provide key data used in tuna stock assessment.

[more]

Brett MOLONY -  Senior Fisheries Scientist

Christine NGUYEN - Data Entry Technician

Sonia SAVEA - Data Entry Technician

Emmanuel SCHNEITER - Fisheries IT Specialist

Emmanuel is a French/Swiss guy. He completed a BSc in European Business Information Technology at the university of Sheffield (England) and a DEST en Informatique des Organisations Européènes at the university of Bordeaux (France) in 1991.

Emmanuel then moved to New Caledonia where he was hired by the Institute of Statistics (ITSEE) as Information Technology specialist, until 1993.

Emmanuel joined in 1993 the Oceanic Fisheries Programmes within SPC as a Fisheries IT Specialist. His job is focusing on database and Internet developments.

Peter SHARPLES - Observer & Port Sampler Manager

Nobody could remember what country Peter came from, as it has been impossible to find which of his 17 passports was the original. In fact, Peter suddenly appeared at SPC in 1872 after he accidentally pushed in the numbers "2022" on his nuclear “salad spinner”. On arrival, he started immediately to write a draft document entitled “ the species identification manual”. He suddenly disappeared in 1903 after he sat on his “plutonium vacuum-cleaner for nose-hairs”, appearing again from time-to-time with his magnum opus under his arm. At this rate, it's debatable whether reference to certain species in the manual will be available before they become extinct.

Sylvie SIROT - Data Entry Technician

Peter WILLIAMS - Fisheries Database Supervisor

Peter obtained a BSc in marine biology from Sydney University, New South Wales in 1978. After further professional education in computer programming, he commenced working for a large software house in Sydney in late 1979. During the early-mid 1980s, he was employed as Development Manager and completed a post-graduate diploma in Information Technology from Macquarie University, Sydney. Peter joined SPC in 1987 as the Assistant Fisheries Statistician (later renamed to Fisheries Database Manager) and was initially tasked with establishing the OFP databases. Other than database-related work, he has a keen interest in various tuna fishery areas, particularly by-catch issues. In 1999, he completed an MBA (Technology Management) conducted through Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria. He is married to Andrea, and has three beautiful daughters (like their mum), Adeline, Coralie and Margaux.