Episode 90: Phil De Boer (CSIRO)

Craig's interview guest in this episode is Phil De Boer who is the Team Leader of Field Operations at the CSIRO Marine Laboratories in Hobart.  Phil's team prepares, maintains, engineers improvements and deploys ship-based oceanographic and fisheries sampling equipment.  This includes  deep-water sediment coring appliances, mid-water and demersal trawl nets, geological sampling appliances, towed-body cameras  and underway laboratories. You will hear Phil talk of his apprenticeship as a fitter and turner with Rio Tinto (Comalco) and of the other 'stepping-stone' jobs that followed before he landed a job with the oceanic moorings group at CSIRO in 2008. We regularly hear about the wonderful science outcomes from the voyages of CSIRO's Marine National Facility, RV Investigator, and it's enlightening to hear from Phil in this interview about the essential support work that underpins the above- and below- water research activities.