Atrue scientific love for the sea
Ever since NIWA principal scientist Dr Stuart Hanchet was little he loved the ocean and wanted to be a scientist.
This led to a science career spanning four decades – and counting – focusing on the ocean.
Hanchet, originally from the United Kingdom, said his family often went on vacation to the south of France where he would ‘‘stick on a snorkel and mask and swim around’’.
He took his love for the ocean to the next level by studying oceanography in England, before moving to Otago to do a PhD.
‘‘I looked at the spiny dog fish, which is a small shark in New Zealand waters.
‘‘It had been studied overseas but never been looked at in New Zealand and it was on the radar for fisheries, so I thought well if I do this there might be a chance of a job afterwards.’’
Hanchet worked in fresh water fisheries for a while after completing his PhD.
He said his involvement in developing a monitoring and tagging programme for Antarctic toothfish in the Ross Sea was one of the highlights of this career.
‘‘They live very deep down, you can’t really troll for them, you can’t see them acoustically.
‘‘They’re very close to the bottom and very difficult to monitor.’’
He said Antarctic toothfish didn’t have a swim bladder, which meant they could be brought to the surface alive to be tagged and released back into the water.
The swim bladder is an organ that allows fish to maintain neutral buoyancy in the water.
Antarctic toothfish, however, have fats in their muscle which has the same effect.
In some cases where the swim bladder of the fish is not connected to the gut, the fish can experience barotrauma, or pressure trauma, which makes the bladder bloat or burst.
This happens when the fish is pulled out from the deep water and released back, and it can result in death.
Hanchet said his team showed the tagging method worked, but none of the other countries doing research in the Ross Sea were using the method.
‘‘I was basically the person on the ground pushing it at the working group level,’’ he said.
‘‘We thought, we need to make this compulsory, so that every boat that went down to the Ross Sea had to start tagging toothfish.’’
The tagging method got accepted in 2004 and Hanchet said there were about 40,000 tagged fish in the Ross Sea.
‘‘In the whole of the convention area tagging is the main monitoring method,’’ he said.
Hanchet said it was a great feeling when the Antarctic toothfish fishery in the Ross Sea was certified as being sustainable.
‘‘Because you’ve managed to provide enough information to be able to manage the stock, not just the target stock but also the eco effects of fishing.’’
Hanchet said he has now taken a step back from the Ross Sea project, even though he’s still involved.
‘‘Since then I’ve taken on responsibilities for the international fisheries programme within NIWA.’’
He said he was working on a project in Tonga at the moment.
‘‘My project is quite unique in that it’s sort of looking at the economics and the governance and management as well as the biology and stock assessment.’’
Hanchet said he loved the variety and flexibility of his job.
‘‘You’ve got new challenges all the time, you’re not doing the same thing all the time.
‘‘You’re constantly learning, constantly finding out about new things.’’
He said had always wanted to make a difference with his work.
‘‘When I was growing up I always thought job satisfaction was the most important thing.
‘‘I think I’ve had that because I’ve enjoyed it but I also feel like I made a difference.’’
Hanchet said he would like to see the five-year-Tonga project finish off and then he would retire.
‘‘Nelson is too nice to spend all your life working.’’