Brilliant scientist Edwin Grandcourt mourned
▶ Researcher dedicated to Abu Dhabi’s marine wildlife for 17 years
The life of Edwin Grandcourt was one of passion, for his wife and family, for his work on the marine environment, for the sport of rugby and for his adopted home of Abu Dhabi.
Until his untimely death this month after a year-long battle with cancer, he gave unstintingly in all these areas with what friends and colleagues remember as boundless energy and enthusiasm.
As manager for marine assessment and conservation at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, his work was central to establishing the principles and practices of conserving fish stocks and marine life in the emirate and wider region.
The author of more than 40 research papers and scientific publications on the subject, Grandcourt was also behind the discovery last year of the world’s largest population of Indian Ocean humpback dolphins, in Abu Dhabi waters.
His more recent work included assessing and managing endangered species and habitats, including dugong, turtles, seagrass and coral reefs.
Dr Shaikha Al Dhaheri, an executive director at the agency who worked with Grandcourt for six years, called him “a shining and brilliant scientist”.
“He established many of EAD’s core monitoring and research programmes that are still running today, and they are still the backbone of many decisions made towards the protection and conservation of Abu Dhabi and the Arabian Gulf,” Dr Al Dhaheri said.
Close friend and colleague Winston Cowie remembers that after 17 years working there, Grandcourt’s enthusiasm for the work never faded.
“He loved his job,” Mr Cowie said. “The number of times I heard him say, ‘We’re living the dream. This is my dream job.’ Well, he said it pretty much every time we were doing field work.
“He loved the sea, it was his passion. He had a naturally curious mind, was highly intelligent and he put all his professional efforts into producing world-class science that would form the basis of management decisions in respect of the sustainable use and conservation of the species he studied.”
“We have lost a wonderful friend and a giant of marine science in the region. His work will be the scientific reference for many, many years to come.”
Born in the garrison town of Tidworth in southern England, Grandcourt would have turned 50 next March. His father was from the Seychelles and his mother from the UK.
His childhood set up a lifelong love of travel and the environment. After leaving the army, his father studied for a degree in economics in the UK before returning home to the Seychelles.
The family lived there for three years until his parents separated. His mother returned to England with Edwin and his brother Gerard.
She later remarried and her new husband was posted to the Solomon Islands, so Edwin and Gerard were sent to boarding school in the UK to complete their secondary education.
Other postings meant their holidays were often spent globetrotting, with visits to several African countries when older, and a chance for the brothers to explore Madagascar, Guinea and the Ivory Coast.
Gerard recalls idyllic trips to the Seychelles, snorkelling while Edwin added to his collection of seashells.
“He was always very meticulous and well organised,” his brother said. “Everything had to be neatly arranged and catalogued.”
With a degree in marine biology from the University of Plymouth and a master’s from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia, Grandcourt accepted a job with the Seychelles Fishing Authority.
Presenting a paper for the authority in South Africa in 2001, he was noticed by a delegate from the agency and offered a post in Abu Dhabi, where he was to live for the rest of his life.
It was in the Seychelles that he met his wife Pina and their two sons were born in Abu Dhabi. Soon there were family camping trips along the emirate’s coast and in the desert, with paddle boarding in the mangroves.
After a funeral in Abu Dhabi, his ashes were scattered in the waters of the Seychelles yesterday at his favourite surfing spot. At an earlier memorial held at the agency, Mr Cowie read a poem dedicated to his friend:
“Edwin, our dear friend of the sea.
“And of the Seychelles, England and the UAE.
“When we look around us, we know where you will be.”