Professor Karen Diele, School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, is leading the WOSHH project and a member of the Fisheries Science Forum steering committee of MASTS, the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland. She has a strong interest in the conservation and restoration of species and ecosystems. Karen’s research in Brazil with colleagues and local mangrove crab fishing communities has recently improved the national crab fisheries policy for the first time in 17 years, a change very well-received by stakeholders (including the crabs). The use of a citizen-science smartphone app co-developed with Dr Simon Wells was instrumental for translating science into policy change.
Dr Michelle Frost, School of Applied Sciences, Edinburgh Napier University, is the WOSHH Project Co-ordinator. She is engaging with project partners and takes every opportunity to chase herring in the field. As a member of the UK National Decade Committee for the UN Decade of Ocean Science, she will be instrumental in getting a wider audience interested in Scottish herring. Michelle did her masters and PhD research on flapper and blue skates and still loves flat sharks!
Peter Cunningham, biologist for the Wester Ross Fisheries Trust, has worked at the trust since 2012, focussing on wild fisheries restoration and raising awareness of important habitats for fish and the need to protect them. He is particularly keen to revive west coast herring fisheries, and the once prolific salmon and sea trout fisheries of Wester Ross. He is a contributor for SCOSHH and a key WOSHH partner in the Gairloch region.
Dr Simon Wells, Edinburgh Napier University, School of Computing, is a computer scientist with expertise in artificial intelligence. He has developed theoretical and applied intelligent computational systems that support argumentation between heterogeneous groups of people and machines, and which have been deployed in pure science, educational, social and policy domains. Simon’s dad was a fish monger, and Simon now works to help the environment and troubled species through technology.
Lewis Watson, a BSc Computer Science (Hons) student at Edinburgh Napier University, is focusing his honours dissertation on Natural Language Processing, a form of Machine Learning. He is also interested in Cybersecurity, Data Science, and Modern Web Technologies. Lewis has done a great job helping to set up this website and has built the forthcoming “Herring Hunt” web app, guided and advised by Simon.
Acknowledgements:
A big thank you to Laura McBride, MSc, and Charlotte Small for helping to draft website content; to Serajus Salekin, School of Computing, Edinburgh Napier University, for initial website design ideas and setup; to Chris Hill for the WOSHH and SCOSHH logos and to Dr Campbell Pert, Marine Scotland Science, & Dr Isabel Moore, Skye and Lochalsh Fisheries Trust, for feedback and support. The great historic and herring ecology photos on this website were kindly provided by The Wick Society and Jackie Daly on behalf of SubseaTV.