FISHERIES RESOURCE SURVEYS

Dave Boyer holds a B Sc Hons degree in Agriculture from the University of London and an M Sc in Zoology from the University of Natal, South Africa. After an early career in nature conservation, he joined the National Marine Information and Research Centre (NatMIRC), Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, in Swakopmund, Namibia in 1989, rising to become Head of the Offshore Resources Division in 1995, a position which he held until 2001. During this time he was responsible for the co-ordination of all research projects on the commercially-exploited fish stocks in Namibian waters, with the primary purpose of providing management advice. His duties involved all aspects of fisheries research including planning and executing surveys, data analysis and presentation of results to management authorities, project administration and the development and supervision of a wide and diverse range of personnel. When the Offshore Resources Division split in 2001, he became Head of the Pelagic Research Sub-division, with responsibilities similar to those of his former position. From 1999 to 2003 he was also a key Namibian representative on various committees of the regional Benguela Environment, Fisheries, Interaction and Training (BENEFIT) and Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) Programmes, and was involved in a number of their resource-oriented research projects.

Between 1989 and 2003 Dave participated in almost 50 acoustic surveys of pelagic fish resources, (30 as cruise leader and 13 as the Namibian counterpart to the cruise leader on foreign research vessels), and between 1997 and 2003 was in charge of developing and conducting annual acoustic and swept-area surveys of Namibian orange roughy stocks. He was also involved in a number of experimental cruises aimed at developing techniques for acoustic and trawl surveys of commercial fish, including sardine, horse mackerel, hake and orange roughy, and in 2002 led an acoustic survey and assessment of pelagic fish in Lake Victoria under the Lake Victoria Fisheries Research project, funded by the European Union. In all, he has published some 30 papers in the international and local scientific literature, as well as numerous other reports and articles on fisheries research topics. He is currently in an advanced stage of submitting his Namibian work to the University of Bergen, Norway, for a Dr Philos degree. 

In 2003 Dave left NatMIRC and returned to the UK to pursue a part-time career as a fisheries consultant, forming a consultancy company (Fisheries and Environmental Research Support) with his wife Helen who was also previously employed by NatMIRC in a research position. Since then Dave has been sub-contacted by FRS to lead 5 acoustic surveys of orange roughy in Chile and Ireland (see Reports) and various other smaller assignments in Southern Africa. Dave is an extremely accomplished all-round fisheries scientist with extensive practical acoustic survey experience, and is an invaluable member of FRS’s survey team.