Episode 50: Dr Alan Williams (CSIRO-retired)

Dr Alan Williams, recently retired CSIRO Senior Scientist, is Craig's guest in this episode. Alan's specialty research areas include understanding the biodiversity and habitats of marine ecosystems – and particularly impacts upon them stemming from human activities (principally fishing and oil/gas industries). This has included a lot of deep-sea research; depths below 200m (metres) and extending to several kilometres deep. The results from the projects Alan and his teams have done have had uptake in the management and policy setting for the conservation of Australian marine fisheries, e.g. design and zoning of Australia’s network of offshore Marine Parks, and spatial management in fisheries using closures. You will hear Alan's very interesting and illuminating reflections on his career pathway, a lot of it spent at sea on research voyages, including exploring Tasmania's sea mounts and the associated faunal communities, and being part of discovering a "bonanza" of previously undescribed marine species.