Bob Kearney

Current research interests include the assessment of the sustainability of Australia’s supply of seafood and the fisheries that support that supply, reducing conflict between recreational and commercial fishers, the conservation of Australia’s aquatic resources, the alignment of Government with appropriate science and the management of biological research funding in Australia.

Bob has a long involvement in assessment and management of global tuna fisheries and since 1986 has held many senior positions involved with the research and management of Australian and NSW commercial and recreational fisheries. In 2003 in cooperation with CSIRO he produced the first published projections of Australia’s seafood requirements to 2050 and the likely sources of supply. He has recently produced a series of ‘fact-sheets’ that describe the status of the resource and the conservation status of selected species, many of which are popularly misconceived to be overexploited.

He has given many key-note address on Australia’s recreational fisheries to Australian and international conferences and is committed to minimizing the conflict between recreational and commercial fishers.
His recent research on the conservation of non fisheries aquatic resources has been concentrated on attempting to improve the quality and relevance of science that is being used to impact the process of declaration of marine parks throughout Australia.

As Chairman of the Research Committees of the Hermon Slade Foundation and the Australia Pacific Science Foundation he is actively involved in the process of funding quality research in biological and related sciences in Australia. He maintains an active interests in improving the use of such science in policy and governance more generally.