Alan Williams
Chief Scientist [organisation: CSIRO]
Dr Alan Williams' research into the marine ecosystems that support
commercial fisheries has focussed on the deep ocean off SE Australia,
but has included seagoing research off Western Australia, New Zealand
and the North Sea.
Now based at the CSIRO marine laboratories, in Hobart, he is involved
in a number of projects investigating the ecology of the deep ocean
seabed. These focus upon methods for mapping and understanding
the distributions of seabed fauna and the effects upon them from
human activities, especially bottom fishing.
Dr Williams has been going to sea, on research voyages, fairly
regularly for the last 20 years. "Working at sea is always
a challenge, but particularly these days, because we run such complex
multidisciplinary surveys, but it's always good to get away from
the office and to get your hands dirty."
