Curriculum Vitae;
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Curriculum Vitae; Robert O’Boyle Beta Scientific Consulting Inc. 1042 Shore Dr. Bedford, Nova Scotia Canada B4A 2E5 (902) 446 – 1301 (tel) (902) 446 – 1349 (fax) (902) 497 – 5933 (cell) [email protected] Profile: A widely respected scientist on marine affairs, who has highly developed organizational abilities and experience managing multi-disciplined programs, problem solving capacity to address a wide range of ecosystem and population related issues, and the ability to interact effectively with resource managers, scientists and stakeholders SYNOPSIS Scientific and technical analyses in support of ocean and resource management A wide range of scientific and technical analyses have been undertaken throughout my career. Early work focused on stock assessment related studies, most notably assessments of capelin, flatfish, and haddock. Throughout this period, I was heavily involved in development and training of the analytical tools and software required to undertake stock assessment. A highlight was this period was uncovering of the retrospective pattern in stock assessment which is now recognized as a global issue. Subsequently, I led and conducted stock assessment on Canadian Atlantic large pelagic sharks. I have undertaken assessments of the status of Atlantic Cusk, human interactions with Leatherback Turtle and modeling of Atlantic cod – Grey seal interactions on Canada’s east coast. Studies related to an ecosystem approach to management (EAM) have covered a range of topics – from a biogeographic study of bottom community changes on the East Coast of North America, through the implementation of EAM and the use of risk assessment to identify priorities to Ecosystem Status Report of the Scotian Shelf. The theme running through this work has been turning EAM policy into practical implementation. Work on fisheries management issues has also been wide ranging from the impact of mesh size regulations on groundfish catch rates, through cost/ benefit analyses of ITQ and other management systems to bio-economic modeling of a groundfish fishery. Review of Ocean and Resource Management related Issues I have undertaken numerous technical reviews of ocean and resource management issues. Regarding stock assessment, reviews include River Herring, American Eel, Gulf and Atlantic Menhaden, US spiny dogfish, Atlantic cod in the US and Canada, and east coast summer flounder. I have been involved in a number of MSC assessments (e.g.US and Canadian Atlantic swordfish, BC spiny dogfish, Chilean hake, Russian Pollock, Canadian Sablefish, US West Coast Groundfish, Barents Sea Cod and Haddock). More recently, I have undertaken reviews of the Gulf and Atlantic menhaden stock assessments and the impact of climate change on New England stock assessments. I am a current member of the New England Fisheries Management Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee and as such provide on-going peer review of issues related to the management of New England resources. I have also undertaken reviews of EAM issues, including most recently the Lenfest report on forage species, impact of seismic energy on Leatherbacks, the fishery benefits of Marine Protected Areas, networks of sensitive habitat in the Gulf of Maine and decision support tools for EAM. I was a member of the Canadian scientific team for the Canada – US Georges Bank transboundary dispute responsible for data management and analysis of transboundary distribution of resources and fishing fleets. Regarding science programs, I have been involved in numerous reviews, most recently that of SMAST’s Marine Fisheries Institute’s research program. Program management and facilitation Throughout my career, I have provided leadership on programs and projects related to fisheries stock assessment, ecosystem approach to management, scientific support for fisheries management and science programs, the latter primarily during my 1977 – 2007 tenure at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. I have chaired numerous scientific meetings to peer review stock assessments (e.g. GARM III, SARC 50, SARC 54, SARC 55 cod working group and SEDAR 18), was co-lead of the Canada – US transboundary assessment process during 1998- 2007 and led the DFO Maritimes peer review process during 1994-2007. During my tenure at DFO, I outlined a planning approach for implementation of ecosystem-based management and was involved until leaving DFO in 2007 on numerous implementation efforts. Since then, I have been actively engaged in EAM efforts in the Gulf of Maine area. I either led or was significantly involved in a number of programs and projects on fisheries management. These included projects to identify problems in the management system, drafting of fisheries management plans (e.g. Atlantic Canadian sharks), and explorations of the science needs of a precautionary approach. Regarding science programs, being BIO Associate Director of Science, I was heavily involved in numerous projects to improve existing and establish new regional and national programs. In my early years at BIO, I led the science program responsible for the provision of stock assessment and associated research. Communication and Outreach Throughout my career, I have spent considerable effort in both outreach to client groups and teaching in educational institutions. Regarding the former, I was one of the founders of the Fishermen and Scientists Research Society, an organization dedicated to involving scientists and fishermen in mutually beneficial projects. I also led early efforts to establish industry-based surveys, some of which continue to this day. I oversaw BIO’s outreach program and was president of the BIO Oceans Association during 2008 – 2010 which is dedicated to furthering outreach on oceans affairs in Nova Scotia. Regarding training, besides on-going lectures on oceans management related issues, a highlight was coordination and conduct of a one-month course on stock assessment in French West Africa. I recently wrote a chapter on the history of fisheries science at BIO as a contribution to the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the institute. 2 DETAILS Scientific and technical analyses in support of ocean and resource management Stock Assessment Nov 2014 – present: Review of impact of climate change on New England stock assessments Jan 2014 – present: Technical review of the Atlantic Menhaden stock assessment. Nov 2012 – Sept 2013: Technical review of the Gulf of Mexico Menhaden stock assessment (E56). April 2012: Technical review of Lenfest report on forage species Oct 2011: Technical review of Atlantic Menhaden stock assessment Jan 2011 – Nov 2012: Assessment of Canadian Atlantic Cusk as endangered / threatened species (E55) August 2011 – March 2012: Human interactions with Leatherback Turtle in Canadian zone (E53). Oct 2007 – Jan 2012: Cod – seal interactions: current models of predator – prey interaction between cod and seals make assumptions on size categories of cod that seals consume and overall levels of consumption; undertook modeling to test sensitivity of assumptions to alternate ones; results reported at fall 2008 ICES symposium, and at July and September 2010 DFO workshops; paper published (A20) Feb 2007: Invited speaker at 50th Anniversary Conference of the American Institute of Fisheries Biologists on future of stock assessment; based upon my 30 years’ experience following the field and predicting how a paradigm shift in ocean resource management will change ecosystem and thus stock assessment (B12) Sept 1999: Paper on nature of peer review (E42) 1990s: Northwest Atlantic large pelagic sharks: responsible for large pelagic shark assessments (porbeagle, blue and shortfin mako) ; first assessments of these species conducted in 1996 (E37, E38, E39) highlighted data issues that needed to be resolved, most prominent being need for the development of databases on commercial logbook and sampling information; new assessment methods were needed to determine stock status and thus convened training session on stock assessment methods (ADMB) for porbeagle shark in collaboration with Dalhousie University; initiatives ultimately led to successful assessment of porbeagle by S. Campana who took over shark program in 2002. 1985-87: Study of retrospective problems in all Scotian Shelf assessments (F9), which led to examination of retrospective problems in all east coast assessments (F10) and ultimately a NAFO workshop (A11); Retrospective analyses now integral part of all stock assessments. 1980s: Southwest Nova Scotia Haddock annual stock assessments (E2, E5, E6, E8, E9, E11, E14, E17, E18, E21, E24, E25, E27), description of fishery (E16), sampling and data management requirements (A3, E22) and examination of fishery regulations (E8). 1983: Scotian Shelf flatfish stock assessment (E13) Early 1980s: Herring population dynamics: undertook number of studies on east coast herring populations designed to improve assessment and management, including development of fishery indices of abundance (C1), design of acoustic surveys (E28), stock assessment (E3, assessment issues (A8) and productivity considerations (A4). 1981: quantitative analysis of impact of stable age distributional assumptions on yield per recruit analyses (E7) 3 1981: description of calibration methodology of VPA (E10) 1977-82: Ichthyoplankton studies: study of plankton communities on Scotian Shelf, including cod spawning distributions (A7), plankton distributions (A5), stock differentiation (A6) and recruitment – ocean climate coupling (A12, E23); coordinated design of MININESS