Shoal's Advisors

Advisors
Strategic Partners

Clanwilliam sawfin © Jeremy Shelton

Shoal’s advisors provide expert knowledge and guidance on matters relating from technical to scientific, from industry to strategy. With SHOAL’s intentionally small secretariat, the advisors’ input is invaluable.

Dr. Adrian C. Pinder

Associate Director at Bournemouth University and Chair at Mahseer Trust, UK.

Dr. Adrian Pinder is a fish ecologist based at Bournemouth University, UK. With a career spanning 30 years he has published extensively on a broad range of disciplines including fish migration and early life history studies. Over the last decade, Adrian has dedicated his conservation research efforts towards the mahseers (Tor spp.) of South and Southeast Asia. He recently led the publication of Mahseer Fishes of the World and in 2020 was awarded a PhD in mahseer conservation. Since 2012, Adrian has been a driving force of the Mahseer Trust, where he currently serves as Chair.

Bernie Tershy

Co-founder and board member, Freshwater Life

Bernie is a conservation entrepreneur. He helped start Freshwater Life to protect the most endangered freshwater species from extinction by eradicating invasive fish. Before Freshwater Life, he helped start a number of other conservation organisations and conservation leadership training programmes, including the Conservation Action Lab at UC, Santa Cruz where he is an Adjunct Professor.

Brian Zimmerman

Director of Conservation and Science, Bristol Zoological Society

Brian Zimmerman is the Director of Conservation and Science of the Bristol Zoological Society, with Executive Board responsibility for BZS’s animals and keeper teams at Bristol Zoo Gardens and the Wild Place Project, as well as its veterinary services, its Institute of Conservation Science and Learning (including the Higher Education and Field Conservation and Science departments).

Prior to joining BZS, he was the Chief Zoological Officer at the Zoological Society of London. At ZSL, he created the Fish Net Programme, an international consortium of zoos, aquariums, research institutions and NGOs working to save threatened freshwater fish species from extinction. He has ongoing field projects for freshwater fish conservation in Greece and Madagascar. Brian sits on the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria’s (EAZA) Conservation Committee, EEP Committee and is the Chair of the Freshwater Fish Taxonomic Advisory Group for EAZA.

Dave Tickner

Chief Freshwater Advisor, WWF

Dave Tickner is Chief Freshwater Adviser at WWF, based near London. He advises international river and water management programmes, leads a research portfolio, and engages governments, international organisations and companies on sustainability issues. Dave previously worked in the UK’s environment ministry before completing a PhD in freshwater sciences and then directing WWF’s Danube River programme. He has held non-executive and advisory roles in the private sector and is currently also a visiting researcher at the University of East Anglia, an Associate Editor of the academic journal Frontiers in Environmental Science, and a member of the UK government’s Darwin Expert Committee.

Dominic Whitmee

Chief Executive, Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association (OATA)

Dominic joined OATA in 2016 from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) where he was Senior International Biodiversity Policy Adviser. Dominic worked in the civil service for over 20 years, latterly delivering CITES policy for the UK government and bringing more than two decades of work at national, European and international levels in highly relevant areas such as biodiversity and wildlife trade. He has extensive experience in the mechanisms of government and how to influence policy not just in the UK but also in Brussels and at global negotiations.

Since joining OATA he has become a Trustee and Vice-Chair of The Pet Charity (TPC), Vice-President of the European Pet Organisation (EPO) and a Steering Committee member of the Companion Animal Sector Council (CASC).

In his capacity as CEO he is also a member of the UK Lobbying Register.

Dr. Sonja Luz

Vice President, Conservation, Research & Veterinary Services, Wildlife Reserves Singapore. Deputy CEO, Mandai Nature

Dr Sonja Luz currently holds a dual role as Vice President, Conservation, Research & Veterinary with Wildlife Reserves Singapore, as well as Deputy CEO of Mandai Nature. WRS is the operator of Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari, River Safari and Singapore Zoo. Mandai Nature is a Singapore-based non-profit conservation organisation, jointly set up by Temasek and Mandai Park Holdings, focusing on advancing efforts on nature conservation and climate change in Singapore and Asia.

Aside from overseeing the veterinary team at WRS, her work focuses largely on conservation and wildlife health issues of the ASEAN region. With a keen interest in strengthening the role of zoological facilities in species conservation, Dr Luz is also involved in many regional efforts around integrated and strategic conservation planning and conservation capacity building.

In her capacity as Deputy CEO at Mandai Nature, she is responsible for spearheading new collaborations with conservation partners to further drive species and habitat protection, community engagement and nature-based solutions for climate change in Singapore and Southeast Asia.

Dr Luz is a governing council member of the IUCN Asian Species Action Partnership and the Co-convener of the Conservation Planning Specialist Group SEA Resource Center, both hosted by Mandai Nature.

Dr. Eleanor Adamson

Fisheries Programme Manager, The Fishmongers’ Company

Dr. Eleanor Adamson cut her teeth on the large freshwater fisheries of the Mekong River Basin. A molecular ecologist by training, she spent time in Australia, Asia and Europe researching stock structure, systematics and biogeography of fishes before joining the Fishmongers’ Company in 2017 to advise on a range of science related fisheries and conservation programmes. She remains a Research Associate at London’s Natural History Museum.

Dr. Ian Harrison

Freshwater Specialist, Conservation International

Ian Harrison obtained his Ph.D. in systematic ichthyology at the University of Bristol, UK. He has conducted research on marine and freshwater fishes from several parts of the world, including fieldwork in Europe, Central and South America, West and Western Central Africa, the Philippines, and the Central Pacific. He was based at the American Museum of Natural History from 1996 to 2008, conducting research on systematic ichthyology and freshwater conservation biology, before starting work with Conservation International (CI) and the Global Species Programme of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

He is currently the Freshwater Specialist for CI’s Moore Center for Science, where he is helping develop CI’s Freshwater Science Strategy as well as CI’s broader, institutional-wide Freshwater Initiative. He has served as the Technical Officer for the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission (SSC), is part of the Steering Committee for SSC, and co-chair of the IUCN-SSC Freshwater Conservation Subcommittee.

He is an Adjunct Professor for the School of Earth and Sustainability, Northern Arizona University. He is currently based in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Dr. Johanna Rode-Margono

Johanna Rode-Margono

Curator at Cologne Zoo, Germany

After her academic education with a focus on primates and field work in Madagascar, Vietnam and Indonesia, Johanna worked as the field programme coordinator for Southeast Asia at Chester Zoo in the UK and as the CEO of Stiftung Artenschutz, a species conservation organisation based in Germany. In 2018, she became the chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s Wild Pig Specialist Group. Thanks to her strong interest in neglected species and desire to find synergies between taxonomic groups with more public interest and those with less, she is excited to get more involved in freshwater fish conservation. She hopes her expertise in Southeast Asia, where the situation of freshwater ecosystems is serious, can help SHOAL in their mission to conserve threatened freshwater species.

Dr. Jörg Freyhof

Research scientist at Museum für Naturkunde, Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin

Jörg Freyhof is a biodiversity researcher and ichthyologist and has been dedicated to conservation since childhood. He is currently employed at the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, where he contributes to the development of the Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Discovery.

He is the regional chair of the IUCN SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group for Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and a Red List Authority for Freshwater fishes. He has led and participated in numerous projects and expeditions around the world, organising and conducting fieldwork into freshwater species. He has published many scientific papers about freshwater ecology and fish, as well as two books. He described more than 100 new species of freshwater fish and his work has been cited several thousand times.

Kathy Hughes

Freshwater Biodiversity Leader and Asia-Pacific Freshwater Biodiversity Leader, WWF

Kathy has worked for WWF for ten years where she has focused on the conservation of freshwater biodiversity. She is particularly interested in freshwater biodiversity monitoring, strategic programme implementation, freshwater protected area efficacy, river basin governance and inland fisheries. She became Co-Chair of the IUCN Freshwater Fish Specialist Group in April 2021, and is also an active member of InFish, the Inland Fisheries Alliance and the Alliance for Freshwater Life.

Michael S. Cooperman

Michael Cooperman

Founder, PlusFish Philanthropy

Michael S. Cooperman has a Ph.D. in fisheries science from Oregon State University and a M.S. degree in the ecology of river-floodplain ecosystems from University of Montana. He is the founder of PlusFish Philanthropy, which is dedicated to promoting research and engagement to protect aquatic ecosystems and the benefits derived from them. He has led scientific efforts throughout North America, Amazonia, sub-Sahara Africa and South-East Asia. Michael is also Affiliated Faculty with the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station, where he helped found the “Monitoring Montana Waters” program to provide technical and financial assistance to citizen-science groups.

Prior experiences include nine years as Fish and Fisheries Ecologist with Conservation International where his primary geographic focus was Tonle Sap Lake of Cambodia, a National Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship on Gulf of Maine Atlantic salmon, and post-doctoral position at University of British Columbia studying the physiological-ecology of Fraser River sockeye salmon migration.

He currently lives and works from his home in southern Vermont.

Michele Thieme

Deputy Director for Freshwater, WWF-US

Michele Thieme is Deputy Director of Freshwater for WWF-US and supports WWF’s efforts to conserve freshwater ecosystems and manage river basins to support biodiversity and human livelihoods. She works with WWF offices around the world to build the resiliency of freshwater systems with a particular focus on river-related infrastructure, dams, and planning, as well as evaluation of basin health. Michele has 25 years of experience in freshwater and spatial planning with over 30 scientific publications. She holds a B.S. in biology from University of Virginia and a Master’s in Fisheries Science from University of Arizona.

Nathan Hill

Editor, Practical Fishkeeping

A lifelong hobbyist from an early age, after studying Aquatics and Ornamental Fish Management, Nathan went on to work as an aquarist at a large public aquarium, as a manager with multiple aquarium specialist retailers, as a freelance aquarium journalist, a college instructor and lecturer on aquatics, and as a technical writer on the hobby and industry. His work has appeared over a range of publications and specialist websites including Reef to Rainforest, Tropical Fish, Reefs.com, Ultramarine and Planet Catfish, and his newest journal ‘fish’ was released in summer 2021.

Advisors

Strategic Partners