Meet the Executive Members of the Marine Parks Association
Frank Future- Chairman
Frank Future has been sailing boats for over 40 years and has a very deep passion for the marine environment. The last residental lighthouse keeper of Fingal Lighthouse, Frank is now the owner and skipper for Ecotourism operator Imagine Cruises, a company with a focus on providing sustainable tourism services which allow people to experience the spectacular beauty of Port Stephens and its friendly wildlife, with a primary focus on experiencing the natural elements that forsters environment and cultural understanding, appreciation and conservation. Frank is currently secretary of Whale and Dolphin Watch Australia and has been an official observer at the annual International Whaling Commission meetings. He is an active member of Port Stephens Tourism and the Port Stephens Eco Network.
Sarah Charters- Vice Chairman
Michael Butler- Treasurer
Jeannie Lawson- Secretary
Lisa Skelton- Executive Member
Lisa Skelton completed a double bachelors degree in Music and Teaching at the University of Newcastle in 2012. Growing up in a sailing family based in Lake Macquarie, Lisa found herself tied to boats from a young age and told to 'sit there until you learn to like it'. For Lisa, life around the water has forstered a deep love and curiousity for the life it sustains, particularly for marine mammals. A renowned photographer, Lisa uses her photographic skills to help maintain a population census of our Port Stephens resident Bottlenose dolphins. Currently working as a deckhand for Ecotourism operator Imagine Cruises, she is passionate about protecting our marine environment so that it can be enjoyed by future generations.
David Scott- Executive Member
Brian Tehan- Executive Member
Marine Parks Association Scientific Panel
Iain Watt
Iain Watt is a marine scientist, a scientific diver trainer and a Yachtmaster Cruising instructor and has always had a passion for the sea and its conservation. He works as a freelance consultant primarily on United Nation and European Union projects in East Africa, Middle East, Indian Ocean, Canada and China on Coastal Zone Management, Marine Parks/Protected Areas, community based co-management of marine parks and marine resources and sustainable marine tourism.
He has developed training programmes for biophysical monitoring and climate change mitigation for government institutions, environment agencies community groups and tourism operators. He hopes that the Marine Parks Association will provide a community resource for citizen science and education supporting marine conservation and co-management of local marine resources.
Bruce Pease
Bruce Pease is a fisheries scientist who has spent his 35 year career in the public service (both US and Australian state fisheries agencies) conducting research within a wide range of commercial fisheries and aquatic ecology programs. Since obtaining his PhD in Fisheries Science from the University of Washington (USA) in 1977, his research has focused on providing information required for the sustainable management of fisheries and aquatic habitats. Before retiring from NSW State Fisheries in 2008, he was a research representative on a number of Fisheries, Catchment and Environmental Flow management committees and disseminated outcomes of his research in scientific publications and presentations at national and international conferences.
Trudy Pease
Trudy Pease has spent her career as a Fisheries Technician in the NSW Public Service. She has extensive technical and field expertise in a wide range of fisheries research work, ranging from invertebrate and fish taxonomy, water chemistry, various fish and seagrass sampling techniques, database design and habitat mapping. She is currently working in computer mapping of estuarine and marine habitats and species distributions using GIS.
Quentin Espey
Quentin Espey has a PhD in Oceanography and was awarded a Federal Government Fellowship to work on the Great Barrier Reef. He has had a 34 international year career in most sectors relating to the environment and sustainability including 10 years in Fisheries positions, and periods as Manager Sustainability Lake Macquarie, CEO of an Environmental NGO and Executive Director Conservation at Cape Nature which included management of 40 land and Marine Protected Areas. He lives in Anna Bay and is involved and committed to grassroots community action and citizen science related to the local environment, in particular related to Marine Parks.
