FISHERIES RESOURCE SURVEYS

Ian Hampton received a Masters degree in Physics (with Distinction) from the University of Natal in 1972 and has worked in the field of fisheries acoustics for the whole of his professional career. Between 1972 and 1996 he rose from Professional Officer to Senior Specialist Scientist within the Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Cape Town, (now known as Marine and Coastal Management or MCM) heading the Institute’s Surveys and Fish Behaviour section from 1989 to 1996. During that time he led some 40 acoustic surveys of pelagic fish and horse mackerel in South Africa and Namibia, krill in the Antarctic, and squid in South Africa, and published some 50 papers on abundance estimates, survey methodology and fish behaviour in the international and local scientific literature. He was South Africa’s representative on the SCAR/SCOR Group of Specialists on Living Resources of the Southern Ocean from 1981 to 1986, and from 1980 to 1986 was Chairman of its Working Party on acoustic estimation of Antarctic krill abundance. He currently alternates with Michael Soule as a member of SCOR Working Group 118 on New Technologies for Detecting Marine Life and is the Southern African representative on its Working Group on Detection Technologies in Developing Countries. 

Michael Soule started his career in 1975 as a technician at the Test and Telecommunications Division of the (South African) Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM). He obtained a National Diploma in Electronics in 1978 and immediately thereafter enrolled at the University of Cape Town in the Department of Electrical Engineering where he graduated with a B Sc degree in Engineering (awarded with honours) at the end of 1982. 

After a year spent with ESCOM developing environmental logging software at the Electrical Test and Research facility in Johannesburg, he joined Plessey SA, a telecommunications company based in Cape Town. During the 7 years he spent there, he was involved in the design of linear and switch-mode power supplies, constant voltage transformers and various telecommunications systems ranging from commercial PABX’s to ruggedised military systems suitable for mobile field applications. He gained a wealth of experience in both hardware and software design before leaving Plessey to join the Sea Fisheries Research Institute (SFRI) Cape Town (now known as Marine and Coastal Management, or MCM) as a senior engineer in 1990.

Dave Boyer holds a B Sc Hons degree in Agriculture from the University of London and an M Sc in Zoology from the University of Natal, South Africa. After an early career in nature conservation, he joined the National Marine Information and Research Centre (NatMIRC), Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, in Swakopmund, Namibia in 1989, rising to become Head of the Offshore Resources Division in 1995, a position which he held until 2001. During this time he was responsible for the co-ordination of all research projects on the commercially-exploited fish stocks in Namibian waters, with the primary purpose of providing management advice. His duties involved all aspects of fisheries research including planning and executing surveys, data analysis and presentation of results to management authorities, project administration and the development and supervision of a wide and diverse range of personnel. When the Offshore Resources Division split in 2001, he became Head of the Pelagic Research Sub-division, with responsibilities similar to those of his former position. From 1999 to 2003 he was also a key Namibian representative on various committees of the regional Benguela Environment, Fisheries, Interaction and Training (BENEFIT) and Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) Programmes, and was involved in a number of their resource-oriented research projects.

Janine Nelson spent the first 11 years of her working career (1986-1997) as an oceanographic research assistant and technician at the Sea Fisheries Research Institute (SFRI), Cape Town, first in the Reprographic Section, and later in the Surveys and Fish Behaviour Section, where she participated in some 20 oceanographic and acoustic stock assessment cruises in local waters, two acoustic surveys of krill in the Southern Ocean, and as a trainer on an acoustic training cruise in Moçambique. During this time she gained extensive experience in the collection, processing and management of acoustic and associated biological and oceanographic data, as well as in all aspects of manuscript preparation and reproduction. She also found the time to complete a B A degree in Industrial Psychology and Socio-cultural Anthropology by correspondence through the University of South Africa, Pretoria, in 1994. After a 6-year spell in South America, where she worked largely in the tourist industry in Peru, Bolivia and Brazil and became fluent in Spanish, Janine returned to South Africa in 2003 to join FRS, initially as a part-time sub-contractor, but more recently as a full-time employee.

Muzeena , who has 13 years of experience in administration and accounting in the corporate world, is our Office Administrator and Bookkeeper. She is our front-line interface with customers , and facilitates all aspects of sales from quotations, orders and imports to financial administration at all levels. In short she ensures that the office runs smoothly and that customers receive a prompt reply to all queries and that orders are executed rapidly and efficiently from start to finish.