... or we can just do it.

The GUARDIANS OF THE REEF organization was formed in 1989 to draw up a workable plan to combat a third starfish plague which co-founder Dr. Robert Endean had predicted would begin around 1995.  That plan was ready in 1995 as growing numbers of juvenile starfish appeared on the Great Barrier Reef, heralding the beginning of the predicted plague.  As funding became more difficult and ocean problems intensified, the GOR organization decided to take advantage of the growing popularity of the Internet to launch a new, even more ambitious programme, one which encompassed a broad range of ocean issues  - on a global basis.  Together with a new name – OCEANGUARD.

As an acknowledged expert on "Acanthaster planci" (Crown-of-thorns) outbreaks, Endean published extensively on these outbreaks in the scientific literature.  He was a University Medalist, University of Sydney, a former Nuffield Fellow and from 1950-1990 held academic positions at the University of Queensland.  During the 1950's he dived and researched the then pristine reefs of the Great Barrier Reef and accompanied Jacques Coustau on his first expedition there.  Endean was supervisor of the first intensive study of the Crown-of-thorns from 1966-68 and was chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Committee, which was instrumental in setting up the marine research station on Heron Island and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA).

A specialist on venomous and poisonous marine animals, Endean was a founding member of the International Society on Toxinology.  A pioneer in marine pharmacology, he was a consultant to Roche Products of Basle from 1969-1078 and was chairman of the planning Committee for the 7^th World Congress on animal, plant and microbial toxins.  He was also a member of the Expert Advisory Committee on food additives of the World health Organization 1976-1981.  Endean published 160 scientific papers, most of them in international journals before he retired as Associate Professor of Zoology at the University of Queensland in 1990. Besides continuing his research into developing new reef ecosystems, Endean never faltered in his crusade to save the Great Barrier Reef from the starfish threat until his untimely death in 1997.

Film Director of award winning documentary, "THE BREAKER", also feature films, "HOSTAGE", "FATAL SKY", "HURRAH" and "THE SURFER".  The latter being invited to the prestigious Directors Fortnight, Cannes in 1987.  In the same year a retrospective of his work was shown at the Le Cinematheque in Paris from which "HOSTAGE" and "THE SURFER" were invited to the Edinburgh International Film Festival. In 1988  "THE SURFER" was also invited to the Berlin Film Festival.

Shields is also an experienced diver, having run a successful diving charter business out of Freeport in the Bahamas from 1968-70.  During that time he took hundreds of tourists and divers on underwater tours of local reefs.  He also chartered to many experimental groups who worked on such projects as Habitat living underwater and the testing of Heliox gases to reduce decompression times for deep diving.  He dived on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1960's before it was decimated by the starfish plagues and in 1977 he was a cameraman on an environmental documentary about the Black Marlin off the Great Barrier Reef.

Co-Founder and Senior Consultant, Tellus Consultants Ltd.
Chair of Sea Keepers (a charitable New Zealand Trust)
Science Director of Mana Fakatupu (a Tongan Environmental NGO)

30 years of professional environmental experience in island environments, including the Florida Keys, Bahamas, Barbados, Gulf of Guinea, Africa, Panama, Colombia, Guam, Northern Mariana, Palau, Yap, the Philippines, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Australia, New Caledonia, Fiji, Wallis, Western Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, and New Zealand.

Capabilities

Multimedia for environmental education

Author of the Tellus Consultants web site www.tellusconsultants.com .

Co-author of the Sea Keepers internet site with over 300 web files packed with information on community and school participation in environmental monitoring.

Producer of educational videos for community based environmental improvement including the Giant Clams of Tonga, Return of the Giant Clam (both in Tongan with Tongan participants), The House of the Fish (in Tongan and English on the problems of Pacific coral reefs), The Triton, Protector of the Reef, Code of Anchoring in Coral Reef Environments, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, Dangerous Marine Animals, Community Forest Restoration in New Zealand, and others.

Producer of The Thread of Awareness in Chaos - A CD-ROM multimedia exploration of life in the sea.

Facilitating community environmental improvement

30 years of experience in working with volunteers for resource assessment and monitoring including:
1968 to 1969 Divers throughout the Pacific help map the distribution of the Crown of Thorns starfish.
1968 to 1969 Guam volunteer divers assist in community based Crown of Thorns control program.
1972 to 1975 Sixteen Earthwatch expeditions use volunteer divers to help document the impact of man on Bahamian and Florida Key coral reefs.
1980 to 1981 Eight Earthwatch expeditions use volunteer divers for coral reef resource assessments in Papua New Guinea.
1986 to 1987 Five Earthwatch expeditions use volunteers for resource mapping in Vava'u Tonga. 1988 to 1991 Twenty Five Earthwatch expeditions use volunteers to help establish and monitor community based giant clam sanctuaries in the Kingdom of Tonga and produce two videos.
1992 to 1993 Ten Earthwatch expeditions use volunteers to develop a community based coral reef management plan for the Kingdom Of Tonga and produce three videos.
1995 to 1996 Director of the Sea Keepers for Schools Activity with 1250 participating schools in New Zealand (Telecom Education Foundation and Sea Keepers).

Fact-Finding and Reporting

• Co-ordinator researcher and editor for the development of the Environmental Management Plan of the Kingdom of Tonga (Government of Tonga and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).
• Researcher and Author of the State of the Environment of Oceania 1995. (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).
• Researcher and Author of 1997 Case Studies on Resource Assessment and Monitoring in Pacific Islands. (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific).
• 35 years of experience in scientific assessment and monitoring surveys on coral reefs, black corals, pearl oysters, giant clams, crown-of-thorns starfish.
• Pollution sources surveys, environmental impact assessments, and project evaluation for coastal zone management and sustainable development.
• Author of more than 48 scientific papers, 44 popular articles and books, and 21 Audio-visual productions.

Training and teaching

• 1958 to 1968 Professional SCUBA instructor. Established PADI Science Diver Classification.
• 1967 to 1968 College and graduate level teaching at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
• 1968 to 1969 College and graduate level teaching at the University of Guam, evolution and invertebrate zoology
• 1969 Trained 69 professional scientists in field survey techniques for U.S. Department of the Interior Pacific Crown of Thorns Assessment Survey
• 1972 to 1993 Trained 64 teams of Earthwatch volunteer divers in field survey techniques for remote sensing, land and underwater resource mapping, marine resource survey techniques, general marine ecology.
• 1984 Regional South Pacific Workshop on coastal processes (USGS, SPREP).
• 1985 Regional South Pacific Workshop on Environmental Project Evaluation (Saipan 1985 SPREP, IUCN, UNEP)
• 1986 Regional Pacific Island Regional Remote Sensing Training Course on Resource Mapping, January 1986 (Suva, Fiji. ESCAP/UNDP/AIDAB).
• 1995 Prepared educational materials for Vision Hauraki (Auckland City Council).
• 1995 to 1996 Prepared educational materials for Sea Keepers for Schools, including 35 lesson plans on school participation in science projects.

1998 Prepared educational program for ESCAP Best Practices for integrating environmental information into economic decision making in Asia and the Pacific.

(Send mail to Dr. Chesher chesher@tellusconsultants.com or snail mail to P.O. Box 257, Port Vila, Vanuatu Fax: International code + (678) 23836)

Jan Sapp is a Professor of History of science in the Biology Department at York University, Toronto, Canada.  Besides his in-depth investigation of the starfish saga in his recently published book, "WHAT IS NATURAL?  CORAL REEF CRISIS", Sapp has authored three other scientific books, "EDUCATION BY ASSOCIATION", "WHERE THE TRUTH LIES" and "BEYOND THE GENE".

Author peter James was born in Queensland and gained his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from the Imperial College, London.  He has published technical papers, prize-winning short stories and eight books.  One of these books was "REQUIEM FOR THE REEF", an investigation into the Governments' handling of the first starfish plague on the Great Barrier Reef.   James now lives in Brisbane and between books works as a consultant in the Asia-Pacific region .

Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences A08, University of Sydney, N.S.W. 2006, Australia.
My research interests span the following topics: Marine biology; evolution, physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology of plant-animal symbioses, coevolution, biology of hermatypic corals, calcification, coral bleaching, environmental change, invertebrate larvae, physiology/biochemistry of larval development.

1. Personal:

DATE OF BIRTH: 26 September 1959 PLACE: Sydney, Australia
PHONE: 02-9351-2389 (work), 02-9351-4119 (fax)
EMAIL: oveh@bio.usyd.edu.au
HTTP:// www.reef.edu.au/OHG andwww.reef.edu.au/pds/index.htm
MARITAL STATUS:Married to Dr. Sophie Dove

Two children (Fiona Naja and Christopher Hoegh-Guldberg)

2. Education:

B.Sc. (Hons, 1st class) University of Sydney 1982
Ph.D. University of California/ Los Angeles (UCLA) 1989

3. Honors and Awards:

Rhodes Scholarship (NSW) Runner up, NSW 1982
Sydney University Travelling Scholarship (Ph.D. scholarship to U.S.) 1983-1987
American Society of Zoologists Travel Award 1984
Departmental Fellowship Award, UCLA 1986
American Nat. History Museum (Lerner-Grey) Research Award. 1986
Australian Museum/Lizard Island Bicenteniary Fellowship 1987
Departmental Fellowship Award, UCLA 1987
Organismic Animal Biology Award, UCLA 1988
UCLA Distinguished Scholar Award 1988
Robert D. Lasiewski Award (best Ph.D. in animal research) 1989
Sydney University Award for Excellence in Teaching 1996
The 1999 Eureka Prize for Scientific Research 1999

4: Positions Held:

Lecturer, Department of Biology, UCLA 1989
Research Associate, Department of Biological Sciences, U.S.C. 1989-1991
Lecturer, Department of Biology, UCLA 1991
Lecturer, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney 1992 - 1994
Senior lecturer, School of Biol. Sciences, University of Sydney 1995 - 1998
Associate Professor, School of Biol. Sciences, University of Sydney 1999 - present
Other:
NAUI Dive Instructor UCLA Dive School 1983-1987
Director and joint company founder, Sable Systems 1987-1991
Director, One Tree Island Research Station 1992-1998
Director, Coral Reef Research Institute (founder) 1995-1997, 1999
Deputy Director, Coral Reef Research Institute 1998
Research faculty, Indiana Institute of Molecular Biology 1998
Visiting scientist, European Oceanographic Center, Monaco 1998

5. Members of Research Group (current):
4 postdoctoral fellows, 15 postgraduate students
(for details email: oveh@bio.usyd.edu.au)

6. Recent Publications and Presentations:
40 Primary Publications (in last 5 years)
63 Published Works (total)
(for detailed summary, email: oveh@bio.usyd.edu.au)

7. Recent External Funding:
Recent external funding (1993-1999: Total = $1.73 million)
(for detailed summary, email: oveh@bio.usyd.edu.au )

8. Committee Positions:
School of Biological Sciences:
Honours Executive Committee 1992
Research Committee 1993 - 1996
Special working party on course structure in Biological Sciences, 1993 - 1995
Strategic plan (School of Biological Sciences) working party 1993
Course Executive Officer, Biology 3 1993-1996
Course coordinator, Marine Zoology 1992, 1994, 1996
Course coordinator, Introductory Marine Science 1993, 1995
Coordinator, Biological Sciences Building project 1998
($3 million, upgrade of A08 and A12 building)
University:
One Tree Island Research Station, Director 1992-1998
University Quality Committee, community service 1995
University Promotion Committee (Assistant Lecturer - Lecturer) 1996, 1997
External:
ENCORE Steering Committee 1992 - 1995
Malacological Society of Australasia Board of Directors 1992 - 1997
Australian Coral Reef Society, Council member 1996 - present
Coral Reef Research Institute, Inaugural Director, 1995-1996
Coral Reef Research Institute, Deputy Director 1996-present
Australian Coral Reef Society Deputy, Council member 1996-present
Australian Coral Reef Society, deputy President 1999
Executive Producer and instigator, Australia's first Internet Auction, 1996
Fund-raising initiative for coral reef research
Executive Producer, Reef Education Web Site 1997
(http://www.reef.edu.au)
Principal academic, Murder Under the Microscope 1997
Internet/television biology game for high school students

9. Reviewer (1997-99):
Grant Agencies:
National Science Foundation (NSF, USA), Australian Research Council, Australian Museum (Lizard Island Research Station Fellowship), Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Cooperative Research Centre for the sustainable use of the Great Barrier Reef

International journals:
Marine Biology, Journal of Environmental Physiology, American Naturalist, Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Marine Ecology Progress Series, Marine and Freshwater Research, Coral Reefs, Pacific Science, Biological Bulletin, Chemical Ecology.

10. Proffessional Affiliations:
American Society of Zoologists, Australian Marine Science Association, American Academy for the Advancement of Science, Malacological Society of Australasia, International Coral Reef Society, Australian Coral Reef Society, National Association of Underwater Instructors

11. Current Research Interests:
I am interested in the biology of symbiotic associations like that seen between reef-building corals and dinoflagellates called zooxanthellae. The biology of symbiosis is a major theme in near-shore tropical oceans. I am interested (and am expert) in applying a range of techniques from ecology, physiology and molecular biology to the study of this area. While I am interested in the general theme of algal-invertebrate symbiosis, I have focused on six major areas. These are:

A. The Physiological basis of stress in reef-building corals.
B. Coral bleaching and symbiotic dysfunction.
A recent Quantum documentary profiled our work (ABC, Silent Sentinels, see transcript at www.reef.edu.au/OHG/s-sentinels.pdf).
C. The role of coral pigmentation in the biology of corals.
D. Patterns of gene flow in coral populations.
E. The genetic diversity of symbiotic algae in Au
F. stralasia waters.
G. The molecular control of calcification.
(detailed summaries of research, email: oveh@bio.usyd.edu.au)