Keynote Speakers

The conference will feature four keynote presentations, one each morning of the meeting. 

Barry Bruce

Keynote topic - white sharks

Biography
Barry’s research interests are in the movements and behaviour of pelagic fish and in particular those of sharks.  White sharks have been a key focus of these studies since 1987.  Barry first used acoustic technology to track large white sharks in 1990 and followed that with satellite technology for tracking juvenile white sharks in 2000.  Two decades of technological development has seen enormous advances in the ability to follow and interpret the behaviour of many large pelagic species world-wide including white sharks and extend  that information to not only fellow researchers but to the general public in novel and informative ways. Much of Barry’s original research was on the taxonomy, distribution and transport processes of marine fish and invertebrate larvae and he remains active in this area.

Christopher Lowe

Keynote topic - shark behaviour

Biography
Chris grew up on Martha’s Vineyard, where he spent a vast majority of his misspent youth fishing and diving.  He received his B.A. in marine biology at Barrington College, M.S. in biology at Cal. State Univ. Long Beach, and Ph.D. in Zoology at the Univ. of Hawaii.  In 1998, Chris was hired as a professor of marine biology at Cal. State Univ. Long Beach where he run the CSULB Shark Lab originally founded by Dr. Donald R. Nelson.  Over the last 20 years Chris has used and developed acoustic telemetry techniques to study the movements, behavior, and physiology of elasmobranchs fishes.  Much of Chris' recent research has focused on quantifying the thermoregulatory, habitat use, and foraging behavior of sharks and rays. 

Geremy Cliff

Keynote topic - shark beach meshing

Biography

Geremy’s first involvement in shark research began in 1981, soon after graduating with an MSc from the University of Cape Town.  He was tasked with evaluating the effectiveness of an electrical shark cable designed to protect swimmers at Margate, a popular surf beach on the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) south coast.  The project came to nought when the cable was irreparably damaged soon after it had been installed.  He was able to undertake a project looking at capture stress in juvenile dusky sharks. 

He joined the Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) Sharks Board in 1983, with the task of collecting catch statistics and biological information on the animals caught in the Board’s beach protection program.  This was to fulfil a commitment by the Board to a long-term monitoring program.  He investigates South African shark attacks as part of the South African Shark Attack File and regularly provides advice, both locally and internationally, on shark attack.  Other duties include ongoing training of the Board’s Operations staff to ensure accurate identification of all catches and successful tag-and-release of sharks found alive in the shark nets.  At the outset Geremy was the only researcher, but in the last two decades the Board’s research effort has expanded and he currently heads a team, comprising three scientists and four support staff.  The combined efforts of these staff have resulted in numerous publications on the sharks of KZN as well as providing much material and information to other shark researchers. 

His interests in free and scuba diving resulted in a long-standing project tagging free swimming raggedtooth (gray nurse) sharks and he is involved in drawing up guidelines for responsible diver interactions with sharks.  Diving, canoeing, surfski paddling, bodyboarding and sharing his love of the ocean with his three young daughters take up most of his spare time.   

John West

Keynote topic - shark attack

Biography

John West is currently the Manager, Life Sciences Operations at Taronga & Taronga Western Plains Zoos. He is been the Curator of the Australian Shark Attack File supported by the Taronga Conservation Society Australia (TCSA) for the last 30 years.

John started his career in the Taronga Zoo Aquarium in 1966 and has been studying sharks for over 40 years. As the Supervisor of the Aquarium in 1980 he developed the Australian Shark Attack File (ASAF) to help him understand more about shark attacks in Australia. His work in analysing shark attacks has assisted governments and general public at large to better understand the interactions between shark and man.

John initiated the original Sharks Down Under, International Shark Conservation Conference hosted at Taronga Zoo in 1991 and has been involved with the conservation of sharks over many years. He was honoured in the 2005 Queens Birthday Honours list when he was awarded the Public Service Medal for his work with the Australian Shark Attack File and his contribution to shark conservation. John is a member of the IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group, a member of the American Elasmobranch Society (AES) and sits on the International Shark Attack Committee of the AES.