10 questions
ASFB members answer some informal questions about themselves and their fishy interests.
Former ASFB Presidents photographed at 2018 conference in Melbourne, Victoria, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the background. From left to right: Harry Balcombe (President 2017-19), Chris Fulton (2015-17), Gary Jackson (2013-15), Bronwyn Gillanders (2012-13), Mark Lintermans (2005-07), John Koehn (2001-03) and Andrew Sanger (1999-2001). © Andrew Katsis
Karissa Lear
Are you a robot fish? Not that I know of
First ASFB conference: Hobart, 2016
Favourite fish: So many…. Hmmm – Greenland shark?
Main fish biology interests: Behaviour, physiology, conservation
Memorable ASFB conference experience: The ‘Women in Fish Science’ panel discussion in Hobart, 2016 – as my first ever conference, this was pretty different to my previous experiences in the field.
Memorable field experience: Ending up in the middle of a vortex of 30+ spotted eagle rays in the Turks and Caicos Islands
Which fish would you most like to be? Sleepy cod – naps are king
Which fish would you least like to be? Maybe a sawfish – after watching them try to feed and swim around in tight areas, it seems like it would be a real drag to carry that saw around for your whole life. And to have yourself and all your closest relatives on the extinction watch list.
Do you have any fishy aspirations? Have my work make a difference for conservation of threatened fishes and ecosystems
Favourite reads: Winnie-the-Pooh
Brendan Ebner
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Sydney, 1995
Favourite fish: Anampses femininus
Main fish biology interests: fish behaviour especially feeding ecology, conservation, rare & unusual species, fish art and imagery
Memorable ASFB conference experience: Gavin Butler presenting remote underwater video of eastern freshwater cod fighting an eel off nest back in the day when field-based freshwater camera research was new in Australia
Memorable field experience: Seeing four freshwater morays in a stream for the first time
Which fish would you most like to be? A male Anampses femininus (gorgeous gals everywhere)
Which fish would you least like to be? Any cold-water species. I’m thermally challenged, with poor circulation to my hands and fingers
Do you have any fishy aspirations? To spend more time watching fish misbehave
Favourite reads:
1st: Libenzi, E. E. (1975). Robin and the Pirates. Putnam Pub Group
2nd: Muñoz et al. (2012). Extraordinary aggressive behavior from the giant coral reef fish, Bolbometopon muricatum, in a remote marine reserve. PloS One, 7(6), e38120.
Gerry Closs
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Lorne, 1990.
Chatting to Tilzey in the Lorne Pub is the dominant memory, but generally interesting and fun conversations in the Lorne Hotel each night, talking about fish. New experience for me. The into-the-night dancing was also memorable at the end of the conference. Can't remember any of the talks – it was a long time ago now.
Favourite fish: Giant Kokopu (Galaxias argenteus)
The largest galaxiid and a spectacular fish in itself, but also demonstrates the delights of understanding biogeography. I worked with Galaxias olidus and Galaxias brevipinnis for several years in Australia, maximum size, say, 20 cm. First fish I caught on moving to New Zealand was a Giant Kokopu. Obviously a galaxiid, but around 35 cm long and reasonably heavy, with beautiful gold flecked marks all along its body. A galaxiid, but, oh, what a galaxiid.Main fish biology interests: Freshwater fish ecology, life history and conservation
Memorable ASFB conference experience: First conference as lecturer at La Trobe in Sydney (1995). Obviously, as a new lecturer, I'm keen for us all to impress. Anyway, the team seems to get a bit carried away at the opening function and seem a little worse for wear. Even worse, we'd lost Harry Balcombe altogether – no idea where he'd gone. Anyway, no need to worry – I was obviously working with a bunch of consummate professionals. Despite being a little worse for wear, all students all gave excellent talks, including Harry, who reappeared with seconds to spare before his scheduled talk slot.
Memorable field experience: Catching the aforementioned first Giant Kokopu. It's always fun catching a new species, but this one was special. Closely followed by electrofishing in Poland – I guess we tend to associate Europe with low diversity, heavily impacted ecosystems, but Europe does have wonderfully diverse fish communities. Twelve species along a 50-metre reach of a tributary of the River San in south east Poland. Most of them indigenous, all interesting. And if we fished for longer, there were another 6–7 species to catch. Best I can get in a New Zealand stream would be 5 species.
Which fish would you most like to be? Whale shark. Big, reasonably easy to catch food, and more or less safe from predators.
Which fish would you least like to be? Any small fish. Life is a bit short and brutal for most of them.
Do you have any fishy aspirations? Working out the distributions of migratory and non-migratory life histories across New Zealand landscapes has been very satisfying over the past 20 years or so. Seeing those qualitative models of life history processes and distribution tested across other land masses will be very interesting. Would love to test some of the ideas in the Pacific Islands. Larger land masses such as New Caledonia and Fiji should be large enough to allow non-migratory species to persist, away from the high fecund species that migrate in from the ocean. Lots of ideas and places still to be explored.
Favourite reads: John Gierach's fishing books are a good lazy fish-related read: fish, people, fishing, and landscapes. And easy reading on a lazy afternoon.
Are there any other special ASFB memories you would like to share?
Had to pull any specific ones out – it's a long blur of enjoyable conferences, interactions, conversations and fun times. They all sort of get mixed up together.
Charles Todd
Are you a robot fish? Yes
First ASFB conference: Bendigo, 1999.
Favourite fish: Cuttlefish, just extraordinary creatures.
Main fish biology interests: Developing mathematical models to assist in the management of freshwater fish
Memorable ASFB conference experience: The Wellington conference [2003]: great talks, great venue, fabulous bars and eateries, best jazz band I ever saw, and funniest evenings on the town.
Memorable field experience: The first 1.4 m Murray cod I caught electrofishing
Which fish would you most like to be? Australian lungfish, indestructible
Which fish would you least like to be? A galaxiid. Tarmo would be forever changing my status and species name.
Do you have any fishy aspirations? To ensure freshwater fish will be around for the next century
Favourite reads: Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut Jnr
Are there any other special ASFB memories you would like to share?
The fire pit in Albury (2000) was pretty amazing.
Geoff Collins
Are you a robot fish? Not in this life…
First ASFB conference: Darwin, 2014
Favourite fish:
Favourite fish to eat? Nannygai (the type you get in the Bight, not the tropical one…)
Favourite fish to look at? Purple-spots
Favourite fish to find while diving? I don’t do enough diving to give an answer to this one… Kuhlia marginata and Amniataba percoides are probably my favourite fish to find snorkelling in the wet tropics
Least favourite fish: Don’t have one … probably stonefish
Main fish biology interests: Ecophys, environmental tolerance, fish passage/connectivity issues
Memorable ASFB conference experience: Presenting one of my thesis chapters at ASFB Hobart in 2016
Memorable field experience:
a. Catching a snake in a cast-net and then figuring out how to release it safely (for the snake and for us)
b. Watching crocs sizing me up at my fish monitoring sites
Which fish would you most like to be? Broadbill
Which fish would you least like to be? Any fish that finds its ecological niche in a polluted / developed / built-up area
Do you have any fishy aspirations? To go fishing for things like Taimen, Golden Mahseer, Roosterfish
Favourite reads: Any of Terry Pratchett, Roald Dahl, Richard Flanagan, Henry Lawson…
Kat Cheshire
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Darwin, 2005
I was in awe and mildly terrified, but once I got through my talk I knew it was a society I wanted to be a part of. I loved how friendly and encouraging everyone was.
Favourite fish: Freshwater catfish.
Get it? kat fish ... No, seriously, I adore how quirky looking they are. Big lips, whiskery barbels, and long eel-like tails. The courtship dancing and weaving is gorgeous. Their larvae are the sweetest. I was ecstatic when I found them in SA during my PhD!
Main fish biology interests: Improving water management to protect and restore native fish in rivers!
Memorable ASFB conference experience: The 2014 joint ASFB-ASL [Australian Society for Limnology] conference in Darwin was really enjoyable. Merging the researchers from the two societies is always intellectually stimulating and the theme was ‘Indigenous participation in research and management of aquatic ecosystems'. It was a fun celebration, being ASFB’s 40th annual conference. It was great to be back in Darwin, where my first conference had been nearly 10 years prior, but feeling more confident and knowing I'd become a part of ASFB.
Memorable field experience: It's a tie between watching Comet McNaught in 2007 while doing night-time larval tows downstream of Lock 6 on the River Murray in SA, and sampling the Neales River (Lake Eyre Basin) in 2010.
Which fish would you most like to be? Spangled perch — they are so resilient and determined! Surviving in crazy salinities and temperature ranges, as well as being able to travel across tiny amounts of water to get to where they want to go.
Which fish would you least like to be? Southern purple-spotted gudgeon. Those blokes have appalling manners in close quarters; it's not surprising they're endangered.
Do you have any fishy aspirations? Helping people look after fish!
Favourite reads: I love books — there's too many to mention.
Are there any other special ASFB memories you would like to share?
The 'academic family photo' with Michael Kingsford, Bronwyn Gillanders and her other PhD grads in Melbourne in 2018 was great fun!
Peter Unmack
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Lorne, 1990.
Favourite fish: Galaxias fuscus, because they are really cool and were quite mysterious back before we knew much about them.
Main fish biology interests: conservation, genetics, biogeography
Memorable ASFB conference experience: My only interesting memory that comes to mind is from my first talk in 1992 at Victor Harbour, when I said ‘s**t’ in my talk, which kind of woke people up: "The sheep just wander through the springs and s**t in the water". I don't think many people swore in talks back in those days. It was a talk about Edgbaston and Red-fin Blue-eye. My mentor at the time (Bryan Pearce) suggested I refrain from saying ‘s**t’ until perhaps I'm a bit more senior, or something like that.
Memorable field experience: Discovering Red-fin Blue-eye in 1990 in western Queensland.
Which fish would you most like to be? I would rather be a bird; it would be cool to be able to fly.
Which fish would you least like to be? One that gets eaten!
Do you have any fishy aspirations? To try and prevent more of them disappearing.
Favourite reads: Fishes of Sahul, the journal of the Australia New Guinea Fishes Association.
Jonah Yick
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Darwin, 2014
Favourite fish: The southern bluefin tuna. They look so sleek and perfectly evolved for speed, they inhabit amazing coastlines with spectacular scenery, and they also taste delicious!
Main fish biology interests: I have a very broad range of interests. My position for the last 11 years has been based around pest fish management, in particular the common carp. My role also involves balancing the management of freshwater acclimated recreational fish species, alongside the management and conservation of native fish species. Outside of my day job, I am regularly involved in various studies on a volunteer/contractor basis involving tagging and tracking marine meso/apex predators, as well as citizen science initiatives.
Memorable ASFB conference experience: Hobart, 2016 — the only conference where I had other members of my team (The Tasmanian Carp Management Program) present carp work alongside me, in my home town.
Memorable field experience: It is yet to come — the day we can confidently report that carp have been eradicated from Lake Sorell, and consequently the state of Tasmania.
Which fish would you most like to be? Broadbill swordfish.
Which fish would you least like to be? A lamprey (sp)
Do you have any fishy aspirations? Continue to work on fish for the remainder of my career!
Favourite reads: Sea Fishes of Southern Australia.
Bruno David
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: I can’t remember
Favourite fish: maybe New Zealand’s freshwater torrentfish— cool adaptations for living comfortably in ridiculously fast water
Main fish biology interests: Behaviour, life history
Memorable ASFB conference experience: ASFB Hobart 2006 — just a really good venue and great places to visit post-conference.
Memorable field experience: Observing (via headlamp) a water spider wrestling with a post-larval whitebait in the surface film at night, only for both to be consumed from below by a giant kokopu in one gulp. Three trophic level observations in one moment... Pretty cool.
Which fish would you most like to be? Longfin eel.
Which fish would you least like to be? A brown trout in the Oreti River.
Do you have any fishy aspirations? To rectify lost riverscape connectivity caused by the Anthropocene.
Favourite reads: That Pommie Bastard, an account of one man’s massive impact from illegally importing, breeding and releasing invasive coarse fish throughout New Zealand.
John Koehn
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Narrandera, 1983. Shared a room with Martin Gomon above some old pub. I remember the RSL club and, while standing at the bar under a photo of the Queen, being accosted by an old digger who rather vigorously asked why I was wearing the Southern Cross on my windcheater. Luckily, he was also in favour of Australia being a republic, so I made a new friend.
Favourite fish: Murray cod. They captured my imagination as a kid, then I got to study them.
Main fish biology interests: Habitats, ecology and the restoration of native freshwater fishes.
Memorable ASFB conference experience: Canberra, 1987.
I had just met, and I was standing next to, Richard Tilzey as he tried to catch the attention of the crowd to open the conference icebreaker. After several attempts to verbally get attention, he grabbed a spoon to tap his glass full of red wine.
Tap, tap, tap. No response.
Louder: tap, tap, tap. No response.
Even louder: TAP, TAP, SMASH. “Oh f*** it! Well, ladies and gentlemen, now that I have your full attention…”
I am still laughing at that scene, which also says something about the friendliness and unpretentious nature of ASFB.
Memorable field experience: Cold mornings on the misty Murray River. Gently easing the first Murray cod to the surface on a set line, watching it watch me. In the cold dark, bogged to the arse trying to retrieve boats on some riverbank somewhere, while dreaming of a warm fire.
Which fish would you most like to be? Probably the Murray cod, as I think that the grace and speed of the Australian grayling is beyond me.
Which fish would you least like to be? A groper — how inappropriate, and imagine the repercussions! Or a gudgeon — too many unnamed relatives!
Do you have any fishy aspirations? Hmmm, the company of chips?
Favourite reads: Autobiographies, especially of rock musicians.
Are there any other special ASFB memories you would like to share?
The warmth by which many members welcome the young 'newbie' members. The informal camaraderie and long-lasting connections. The opportunities it presents, both to be helped and also help.
Maggie Watson
Are you a robot fish? No
First ASFB conference: Albany, 2017
Favourite fish: Farlowella catfish. My husband has a Rio Negro biome tank, and the twig catfish are the best!
Main fish biology interests: Freshwater crayfish, immune function and ectoparasites.
Memorable ASFB conference experience: Getting to go to the MCG for the 2018 conference and watching the groundskeepers drop in the pitch!
Memorable field experience: Losing a large round crayfish net in a snag in the Murray River and watching my student jump into the water to rescue it, wearing waders and sinking like a stone. He was fine, if very wet, and saved the net.
Which fish would you most like to be? An eagle ray, flying through the water...
Which fish would you least like to be? A carp. Yuck.
Do you have any fishy aspirations? Playing with alpine crayfish.
Favourite reads: The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold and The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison