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 The Shallow Marine Surveys Group was founded in June 2006 as a non-profit organisation with the goals of conducting research into the inshore marine waters around the Falkland Islands.
Staff include fisheries scientists and marine biologists from the Falkland Islands Government Fisheries Research Department and volunteers from the local community.
Dr Paul Brickle | | |  | | Paul is co-founder and a Director of the Shallow Marine Surveys Group and is also a research diver and one of the group’s marine biologists. Paul grew up in Zambia and Malawi but for some reason sought cooler climes by attending universities in the UK and then working and living in the Falkland Islands.
Paul has a BSc (Hons) in Marine Biology from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. He also has an MSc and PhD from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland in fisheries biology and zoology respectively. Paul is currently the Director of the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI). Paul’s interests include the ecology and oceanography of the southern Patagonian Shelf, particularly the reproductive biology, age and growth, population dynamics and the population structure of marine species inhabiting the waters of this region. He also has a keen interest marine parasites and their use as biological tags for investigating the population structure and migration of fish hosts. Paul continues to be a part of a number of trophic studies of marine fish around the Falkland Islands and is interested in the environmental and fisheries impact on trophic structures in communities. Paul is also interested in shallow marine ecology, community ecology and biogeography of small isolated islands.
| | | | | Steve Cartwright | | | 
| | Steve is co-founder, Director, and current Chairman of the group. He is also a research diver and coxswain. Steve is the owner of "Chancer" a 28ft American Fastfisher adapted for use as a dive platform, from which most of the diving around the Stanley area is undertaken.
Steve has been diving in these cool waters since 1995. Originally from Yorkshire, England, Steve moved to the Falkland Islands in 1984. His boating career includes working as a coxswain for Sulivan Shipping Services Limited in the Falkland Islands for 16 years, the last 10 as chief coxswain. During this time he gained RYA qualifications and commercial endorsements in motorboating.
No PhD to report but if you need something done, fixed or found Steve's your man! | | | | | | | | | Dr Wetjens Dimmlich | | | 
| | Wetjens is a Director of the group. He is also a research diver, photographer and webmaster. Originally from Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He moved to Melbourne, Australia and obtained his BSc in Zoology and GIS/Remote Sensing at James Cook University of North Queensland. He worked in fisheries research around Australia for a decade before accepting a PhD scholarship in Fisheries Science at Adelaide University. A keen photographer, Wetjens has also been diving since 1986.
Wetjens began his career working on the ecology and conservation of marine turtles in tropical Australia and has since been involved in many other research projects, with particular emphasis on pelagic fish species. He studied the prey species of the little penguin (Eudyptula minor) in Victoria for several years before moving to South Australia to develop fisheries monitoring protocols for the nascent sardine (Sardinops sagax) fishing industry in that state. His main focus before moving to the Falkland Islands has been an investigation of the biology, life history and stock assessment of anchovies (Engraulis australis) in South Australian waters. During three years with the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department, Wetjens was involved in oceanographic studies in addition to stock assessment and management of commercially fished species around the Falkland Islands.
Wetjens currently works in Bonn, Germany, with Accreditation Services International, supporting the Marine Stewardship Council, a non-profit organisation which contributes to the health of the world's oceans by recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing practices. | | | | | | | | | Dr Paul Brewin | | | 
| | Paul is the current Secretary of the group. Paul first started with SMSG in 2010 as the South Georgia Shallow Marine Program and continues to be one of the scientists/divers for SMSG in the Falklands. Paul gained his PhD at the University of Otago, New Zealand, studying the deep-benthic community ecology in New Zealand's fjords, and has held a Post Doctoral Fellowship at the University of California San Diego, where he studied seamount community ecology and oceanography. Paul has a general interest in marine benthic communities and has published across a wide range of topics including sea urchin reproductive ecology, drivers of community diversity, deep-sea coral predictive distribution modelling, and history of deep-sea research. Paul also brings to the group a wealth of diving and deep-sea survey experience having worked extensively in Antarctic, temperate, and the tropical marine realms. Click here for a list of recent publications. Paul’s primary responsibilities are to analyse intertidal and subtidal data collected during SMSG’s expedition to South Georgia in November 2010, with the aim of characterising South Georgia’s intertidal and shallow marine habitats and biodiversity. This work is supported by the Darwin Initiative, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, British Antarctic Survey, the South Georgia Heritage Trust, and the governments of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Paul is also a scientist in the Falkland Islands Fisheries Department. | | | | | | | | | Dion Poncet | | |  | | Dion Poncet is one of the most remarkable skippers on the high seas, having been born and raised on a yacht in the Southern Ocean. Inevitably, with this background there are few corners of the Antarctic Peninsula, South Georgia and Falkland Islands that Dion does not know. His working knowledge of high latitude charter vessels, coupled with his ability to fix almost anything, makes Dion a valuable addition to any project or expedition.Dion skippers our regular charter vessel the "Damien II", He is also one of the group's research divers and is involved in underwater photography and specimen collection. | | | | | | | | | Dr Judith Brown | | |  | | Judith is the current Treasurer of the group, and is involved in the research diving, photography and identifying of marine critters.
Judith took up diving in 1991 in her home waters in the North east of England. She is a BSAC Advanced diver and is HSE IV qualified. She has a BSc in Applied Marine biology from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh and has since worked mainly in fisheries research. Working for the British Antarctic Survey, Judith spent two years on South Georgia studying the commercially important fish species in the area. Sticking with the colder climes (and penguins) she then spent six months on Signy Island as a freshwater limnologist. After that she returned to the UK and moved to the Lake District where she worked for Eden Rivers Trust on salmon and trout. Judith moved to the Falklands in 2008 to work for the Falkland Island Government Fisheries Department, researching Patagonian toothfish (ageing, reproduction, diet and migration studies) and she also completed her PhD thesis on the ecology and life history of Patagonian toothfish. Click here for a list of recent publications. Now working for the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands as the marine and fisheries scientist, Judith continues working on commercial fish species of the South Atlantic | | | | | | | | | Steve Brown | | |  | | Steve is a member of the Shallow Marine Surveys Group technical services team as well as one of the research divers and photographers. Steve is used to functioning in cold climes having worked for the British Antarctic survey for 6 years, working on all of their Antarctic stations initially as an electrician then in a management role. As well as his ability to fix most things Steve also has his RYA powerboat qualification.
Steve was introduced to the ways of diving in Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles and has since become truly addicted and has had the opportunity to dive in the Maldives, UK, Easter Island, Red Sea and the Falklands. | | | | | | | | | Dr Vladimir Laptikhovsky | | | 
| | Vlad is involved in the research diving, and identifying of marine fauna. He was born in the oldest Russian town, Novgorod, amidst pristine northeast European forests, where bears are traffic hazards and wolves are as common as hares.
Vlad has an MSc in ichthyology (1985) and a PhD in hydrobiology (1995) from the Kaliningrad University and a DSc in hydrobiology (2006) at the All-Russian Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, Moscow. He has been working on fishery management and investigations of reproductive biology of both squid and fish in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and participated in the first Russian round-the-world cruise of the barque “Kruzenshtern” collecting and identifying fish and invertebrates. After some scuba experience in the Gulf of Guinea in 1986-1987 he resumed diving in 2004.
Vlad’s current position is the data analyst in the Falkland Islands Government Fisheries Department, where he is responsible for the monitoring of fisheries around the islands and respective statistics, as well as for investigation of the biology and stocks of Illex squid and rockcod, Patagonototthen ramsay and monitoring of oceanography. Click here for a list of recent publications. Vlad is also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Marine Biological Association of the U.K. | | | | | | | | | Dr Martin Collins | | |  | | Martin is involved in research diving, and identification of marine fauna. Originally from Liverpool, Martin first came to the Falklands as a fisheries observer in 1990, but left after a year to undertake a PhD investigating the ecology of squid around the Irish Coast.
After completing his PhD Martin worked at Aberdeen University, researching deep-sea fish ecology and lecturing. During his time in Aberdeen Martin learned to dive in the cool Scottish waters and has dived sporadically ever since in various parts of the world. In 2002, after seven years in Aberdeen, Martin moved to the British Antarctic Survey to work on the ecology of Southern Ocean nekton (fish and squid).
In May 2009 Martin moved to the Falklands to take up a post as Director of Fisheries and Senior Executive for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. | | | | | | | | | Dr Elena Juergens | | |  | | Elena Juergens completed her PhD studentship in ecology and hydrobiology at the Kaliningrad State Technical University (Russia) with additional work undertaken in Rostock (Germany) partially supported by a fund for young scientists (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt). In 2006 she defended her PhD (Ecology of the bivalve Macoma balthica in the south Baltic Sea).
Elena has specialised in studies of bivalve biology including genetic methods, and now is trying to disentangle the mysteries of age, growth, reproductive biology and other aspects of the life history strategies of the clam Eurhomalea exalbida in Falkland Island waters. She is also a scientist with the Falkland Island Fisheries Dept.
| | | | | | | | | Kalinka Rexer-Huber | | |  | | Kalinka is an ecological generalist with an apparent weakness for field work in cold places. She did her MSc at Otago University New Zealand researching physiological and behavioural responses to freezing in freeze-tolerant tree frogs, and has studied mammals, particularly mice, fur seals and dolphins, captive husbandry of rails and passerines, and demographics and tracking studies in albatrosses, petrels, prions and penguins on Gough Island and in New Zealand. Having done some work on intertidal ecology in New Zealand, Kalinka has become involved in intertidal studies with SMSG looking at environmental effects on breeding and diet in several species of starfish and crabs. | | | | | | | | | Dr Karen Neely
| | |  | | Karen was the Project Officer / Benthic Ecologist for the two-year OTEP-funded Shallow Marine Surveys Programme. The programme gathered data on species compositions, habitat types, and ecological interactions of intertidal and shallow marine flora and fauna throughout the islands. Karen remains involved with SMSG through the production of an identification guide and the analysis and publication of the collected information.
Karen obtained a Ph.D. in marine ecology from Duke University in North Carolina where she studied the ecological relationships between corals and tropical fish. She has a wealth of diving, field, and research experience working with tropical and temperate flora and fauna throughout the world. She is also active in the outreach components of conservation biology. She is currently working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to map, monitor, and conserve endangered coral species throughout the Florida Keys. |
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The SMSG Team