Ms Isla Fitridge
AMSA Councillor, 2008 - 2010-
I am currently a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, based at the Victorian Marine Science Consortium labs in Queenscliff. My PhD research focuses on the hydroid fauna of Port Phillip Bay, and how their communities change temporally and spatially in terms of their presence and absence, recruitment, growth and fertility. It represents the first documented assessment of the hydroid fauna of this region. The research will also examine the role of hydroids as fouling species within mussel culture operations, where biofouling is a consistent problem. In Port Phillip Bay, hydroids are known to foul both mussel shells and spat-catching ropes, but it is not known how these hydroids may be affecting mussel productivity and there is currently no research effort investigating the relationship between mussel culture and hydroids. The potential of hydroids to be utilised as spat ?attractors?, the impact of hydroids on mussel culture productivity, and patterns of hydroid recruitment will be investigated, using Port Phillip Bay and (potentially) New Zealand long-line mussel farms as research case studies.
My background has seen me hop between several countries over the past ten years! I am Scottish and completed my honours degree in Applied Marine Biology in Edinburgh in 1998. From Scotland I moved to Australia where I worked for two years as research assistant at Charles Sturt University in Albury, NSW, in the field of wetland ecology. I then moved to Christchurch, New Zealand, working for seven years with the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) as a marine ecologist, primarily in the areas of sustainable aquaculture and marine biosecurity. I moved back to Australia in early 2007, and established my own marine ecology consulting business (Moana Marine Services). I began my PhD in mid-2007, and joined AMSA shortly thereafter as a way to become part of a network of marine scientists with a passion for advancing marine science in Australia. I am really excited to be part of AMSA and to be able to contribute to the AMSA council in 2008/2009.