Community Liason/Advisor
Lawrence Nodua is from Tuo village in the Reef Islands of Temotu Province, Solomon Islands. He holds a Diploma in Youth Development and is currently working towards a Bachelors of Business Management majoring in Public Policy. Combined with his extensive experience in community development, previously working for World Vision, AusAid and EU programmes, Laurie has also represented the Solomon's in the Oxfam International Youth Parliament.
“It is an honour to work with OceansWatch, to me it is a dream come true to be able to assist my community on possible ways of looking after our sea resources. My community feels that our local knowledge will be well blended with OceansWatch experience and technical knowledge, and we are proud of this. We hope that through our work with OceansWatch our future children will enjoy what the present generation has in terms of harvesting sea resources.”
Community Development
Rachel Ward – Community Development Advisor & Business Manager
Rachel's background is in community and organisational development in the social services. She has recently returned to Aotearoa after work and travel in South America and Asia. Captivated by the rainforests and reefs, Rachel is excited to be part of the OceansWatch team. She holds a BA in Geography and Politics from Victoria University of Wellington, and a Masters in Social Work and Community Development from Massey University. Rachel has also lived in Fiji, undertaking research and papers in Marine Science with the University of the South Pacific. She is passionate about the processes of social change and empowerment for better environmental management.
Contact Rachel on rachel@oceanswatch.org
Coral Reef Ecology
Vince Kerr is a biologist with a background in environmental education, forestry, horticulture and conservation management and is currently working for the Department of Conservation, based in Northland, New Zealand as an advocate for marine conservation. He has been an active marine conservation campaigner for many years. Vince has experience in marine protected area planning. Vince is a founding trustee of the Mountains to Sea Conservation Trust and the MarineNZ web site project. Vince has a keen interest in coral reef survey and protection work in the Pacific.
Oceanography
Irene llabers Pohl has a BSc in Environmental Sciences and an MSc in Oceanography. Irene has field experience in the Bahamas, Australia, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea and has worked for UNEP and The Nature Conservancy. Irene worked as Team Scientist for OceansWatch in 2008.
Irene provides scientific consultancy to OceansWatch as required.
email irene@oceanswatch.org
Whales, Reef Check training
Glenn Edney lives and works between New Zealand and the Kingdom of Tonga where he runs a diving and whale watching business www.tonga-dive.com He is an accomplished sailor and diver and runs Reef Check courses for OceansWatch from his base in the Ha'apai islands. In conjunction with a researcher from Macquarie University in Australia, he is currently studying humpback whales and is in the process of establishing a database of whale tail identification photos that will be available to OceansWatch members. He is a well respected underwater photographer with many published images and has written a field guide to the Poor Knights Wonderland - a marine reserve off the north coast of New Zealand.
