Episode 28: Russ Bradford (CSIRO)

The interview guest in this episode is Russ Bradford, of CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere. Russ is a specialist in population biology, the movements/migrations, and population assessment of sharks and tuna. You will hear Russ describe his early life which itself  involved a lot of transoceanic movements. His marine science degree at University of Tasmania included investigations on the smooth toadfish in Northwest Bay. Participating as a volunteer on a research cruise on CSIRO's earlier vessel, Southern Surveyor, saw him go on to land a position with CSIRO as a research assistant in 1993. His time at CSIRO has seen him become a key member of teams working on gene tagging in Southern Bluefin Tuna, and application of close-kin mark-recapture for assessment of population dynamics of white sharks and east coast grey nurse sharks. Russ eloquently explains these techniques and the research in which they are employed in assisting with national and international policy and management needs for conservation of these species. He also talks about his role in CSIRO's Wildlife and Large Animal, Animal Ethics Committee.